10K Race Pictures and a Breakthrough

I don't run a ton of races just because I don't want to spend a ton of money each year, but over the past 30 years I've run my fairshare of them. This is the first time I've run a race where I've had more than three picture taken. I don't think I've ever taken so many bad pictures of myself in one 'sitting'. I really need to work on paying attention to where the cameras are.

For your viewing/laughing pleasure.....

brightroom event photography

Nothing to write home about - and there's nothing there that I want to buy - but I though I'd share them with you.

Yesterday's run I had to cut back to a 2.23 mile run because of time restrictions. (I had to pick Abby up from school.) After dropping Cade off at the in-laws I had about 30 mins of free time that I decided to use to sneek in a brief afternoon run. So I grabbed my iPod and had Bogey join me and headed out the door.



I thought I'd be more sore than I was due to my effort on Sunday - but that has seemed to have worn off now and I felt pretty good starting off. Four mins into the run I was just cruising and I was almost pulling Bogey along to keep pace. I've been flirting with a sub 9:00 min pace for about a month now (on a mulitple mile(s) run) and I could tell today was the day that I was going to breakthough this barrier - first mile in and I was at an 8:30 mile. The final 1.2 miles are all uphill but I thought I could hold on and gut one out so I could get my sub 20 mins on this run. Suprisingly the pain really didn't come on the hill and I finished the run pulling Bogey across the line in 19:12 or a 8:37 pace. (This marks the first time I've run this course at a sub 20 mins.)

I'm pleased and suprised to see such a big jump in pace improvement in such a short amount of time. I think I could have held this pace for another mile if the course had been flat. Could I really be getting close to a sub 27 min 5k? Shoot my PB is 28:04 right now - but my current pacing would suggest that I'm getting close. I think I might have to change my easy run pace down to 9:30-9:35 per mile down from 9:45-9:50, I'll see how I react to that pace later on in the week.

Final thought/gripe. I've mentioned above that I really don't do too many races (1-4 per year) but I have been racig for a while. Chip timing has to be the best improvement in racing for the back-of-the-packer since the invention of the wheel and I've run about 20 races using these chips but single-use chips? That's what I had for my last race. I'd like to think that us runners are a little more in-tune with waste and our enviroment to really condone this type of waste. What's wrong with the old reusuable chips? I have no problem waiting for a race helper to cut my chip off after a race. Wasting the zipties are bad enough but the whole chip? Has anyone else see this one-and-done chip before? Mine was made by ChampionChip and I'm not too sure if this is a trend or still uncommon. I asked the Race Director at the site if they were going to collect the chips and she said the company was supposed to have a truck - but it never showed (at least up to an hour after I had finished the race)

Keep Steppin'
Bob