1st AG

Sometimes things work out and there is no rhyme or reason to it.  Today I ran the Mattituck-Cutchogue 5th Annual Turkey Trot 5K here on Long Island.  Jen and I decided to do this 5K just to get out and have some fun.    It was a cool day, but great running weather so I knew I could do well.  I was looking to do a sub-20 minute but wasn't sure if I could; after-all, I haven't really been training for speed.  The race began and I found that I was able to keep up with most of the lead pack which was encouraging.  I began to pass more and more people and before I knew it there was only a quarter mile left to go.  This is when I got a bit confused, I was able to break into a near sprint up the last hill and down the finish straight to pass a couple of runners.  My pace throughout the race had been quick so I wasn't sure why I had all of this energy left at the end.  I hadn't been looking at my watch for the last two miles so I was shocked when I read the clock at the finish, 19:06.  Where the hell had that come from?  That time was good enough for 13th place overall and a 1st in my age group.


Being able to put out that kind of run doesn't really make sense when looking at what I have been doing this week.  Sunday to Tuesday I logged 18 miles of running and 85 miles of biking.  Wednesday I took a day off but still, I haven't exactly been taking it easy this week. Going into the race I fully expected my legs to be tired given the miles I have been putting in, but they weren't.  At no point during the race did any of my muscles show signs of tiredness.  In fact, the whole race felt good.  How can it be that I have been pushing my limits all week and still am able to pull out a performance like this?  Conventional wisdom dictates that my legs should be tired or sore and that should have effected my performance and yet there I was cruising along and somewhat upset that I hadn't pushed myself further.


I guess there are just some times that we can't predict how we will do.  Maybe I was psychologically ready for a big race, maybe all the miles I did this week set me up for increased performance, maybe it's just that sometimes things just click in the right way.  I have no idea.  All I know is that I'm thankful this Thanksgiving that I could go out there and run better than I could have imagined.  That I could take home an AG win.  That I got to share the race with my wife.  And mostly, that I have the ability and talent to just get out there and run.


Happy Thanksgiving.