Granted, I have not been blogging lately.  No excuses!  Of course, it is hard balancing training, work, and life.

Since I last logged on, I ran another 5K.  I have decided to focus on shorter distance races, instead of pushing myself towards the half marathon.  Since the knee injury last year and the pain that I am still experiencing due to scar tissue, I am playing it safe this time around.

Last Saturday, I ran the Springfield 5K, which was held in conjunction with the Springfield Days festival.  My friend urged me to run this race, as he was planning to run the 15K.  While the 15K was tempting, I opted for the 5K to attempt to shatter my previous record:  30:45 (which I accomplished at the Walter L. Mess W&OD 5K in March 2012).

The 5K started off downhill, so I was able to run faster than usual.  I would guess my pace was in the  8 minute/mile arena.  However, the early downhill did have a negative impact, when it came to keeping the pace in the flat portions of the course.  I knew going fast in the beginning might backfire and result in some walk breaks a little down the line.

By the time the 5K runners separated from the 15K runners, I knew it was going to be a reversal where we would have to go back uphill again.  For some reason, my body was not too thrilled.  If my quads were able to give me the middle finger or scream, they would have on the Commerce Street hill.  I just dug deep and pushed myself to get up that hill in one piece.  By the time I got over that hill, my adrenaline kicked in and I sprinted back to the line.

Overall, I placed 12th in my age group with a time of 30:36 (9 seconds off my previous time).  If you are looking for local races, check out RunWashington.com.   The next race I am looking at running is another 5K during Father’s Day weekend in Cleveland.  Hopefully, I shave a minute off this time (if things work in my favor).