Race Judicata 5k (7-21-11)

Tonight I ran the Race Judicata 5k. The race is put on by the Chicago Legal Assistance Foundation. Many of the local firms put teams together, and get involved.

This was my first race in 16 months, and after a long layoff, I've only been running for the last 3 months.  On top of that, I've really struggled with running in the heat. At 6pm, the temperature was 96* with a heat index of 104  But I didn't put any pressure on myself for this race. I just wanted to go out there and see what I could do.

I told myself not to go out too fast, but of course, it happened anyway. I felt pretty good in the first mile, I was comfortable and it wasn't much of a struggle. But when I hit the 1st mile marker in 7:28, I knew I was in a little trouble. In the 2nd mile I had to back off the pace. I got passed by a lot of people. At 1.25 miles the discomfort really started to set in. At 1.5 miles I was hurting pretty badly and thought to myself, "Shit, I can't believe I'm only half-way done!"  

I hit the 2nd mile marker in 7:51. The pain was pretty intense at this point, but it was comforting to know that I only had 1.1 miles left. The heat wasn't really bothering me. In fact, I wasn't even noticing it. All I could think about was the pain. My breathing was labored, my stomach tight and cramping, I could not wait for the race to be over. But I tried to stay positive and still had enough to pick up the pace at the end. Somehow, despite the intense discomfort, and the desperate need to stop running, I was still able to move with a certain sense of fluidity. It felt good. The course was straight out and back. I rounded a corner, and the sight of the finish line was a beautiful thing. I didn't have a very significant kick, but it was still a pretty solid sprint across the finish line for the last 0.1

I proceeded to dump cup after cup of water on myself, as I waited for my co-workers to cross the finish line. Then I had a bagel, a banana, 2 hot dogs, 2 ice cream cones, and a slice of pizza. 

Mile 1- 7:28
Mile 2- 7:51
Mile 3- 7:31
0.1- 0:46 (6:01 pace)
FINISH- 23:38 (7:38 pace)

Overall, I'm happy with this. It felt good. Although this is a PW, I think the finish time is decent in light of the heat and short amount of time that I've been running again. I dunno if I'm gonna race again for a few months though. It was pretty painful, and I'd like to get in better shape before giving it another shot.