Sorry if it sounds like I'm tooting my own horn (I usually only do that behind locked doors 
) but I just wanted to share with everyone that I finally realized two of my biggest goals in my life on Saturday. As some of you may be aware, I am a runner, and am quite passionate about it. I have really started training my ass off the past two years, and have seen marked improvements. My 5k time went from 19:30 in 2003 to 17:24 as of last October, but every since I started improving I have had the goal of breaking 17 minutes in a 5k forever in the back of my mind.
Every year there is a local race that is run on the runway of the now-defunct Air Force Base near my home. I've ran it since its inception 3 years ago, and posted times of 19:58 and 18:23 respectively, finishing 6th last year. I made it my goal to try to break 17 and to come in first this year. I'm in pretty good shape and since this race is as flat as possible, I figured it was a good time to really hunker down and try to do so.
When the gun went off, I quickly took the lead, something I have never done before. I left my watch in the car so I was running entirely on feel. I knew I was going fast but it felt good. A kid about my age settled in right behind me and didn't let go for the first half the race. We stayed with each other right behind the pace vehicle, at the same exact pace. When we finally reached the turnaround point, the kid threw in a surge and passed me. I tried to stay with him, but after 20 or 30 meters he was still gaining and I opted to drop back a bit so I wouldn't die later on.
After a few minutes, he had a sizeable lead on me; I would hazard 100 to 150 meters (about 30 seconds). I had picked up the pace though, so I was still running even faster than I had been in the first half. With half a mile left, I realized he had slowed down a tad and I was very slowly catching him. I said to hell with it and started kicking with 800m left. We rounded the final corner, with 200 to 300m left, and my friends and family and girlfriend were there, cheering for me. He was only about 20 or 30m ahead of me by then, so I told my brain to shut up and stop bitching and went into all-out sprint mode. I caught the kid with 100m left or so and we sprinted neck and neck until just before the finish. I somehow found a higher gear and just barely out-kicked him to come in first overall with a time of 16:59!!!! We shook hands and congratulated each other and I'm pretty we both went off to puke.
My mother was taping the race and I just got a tv card so I digitized the last 30 seconds of the race, right where I caught the kid and we sprinted to the finish. It doesn't look like we're running that fast because we were both so tired but we were flying. Here's the video:
http://www.xcgeorge.com/stuff/moonlight.wmv
) but I just wanted to share with everyone that I finally realized two of my biggest goals in my life on Saturday. As some of you may be aware, I am a runner, and am quite passionate about it. I have really started training my ass off the past two years, and have seen marked improvements. My 5k time went from 19:30 in 2003 to 17:24 as of last October, but every since I started improving I have had the goal of breaking 17 minutes in a 5k forever in the back of my mind.Every year there is a local race that is run on the runway of the now-defunct Air Force Base near my home. I've ran it since its inception 3 years ago, and posted times of 19:58 and 18:23 respectively, finishing 6th last year. I made it my goal to try to break 17 and to come in first this year. I'm in pretty good shape and since this race is as flat as possible, I figured it was a good time to really hunker down and try to do so.
When the gun went off, I quickly took the lead, something I have never done before. I left my watch in the car so I was running entirely on feel. I knew I was going fast but it felt good. A kid about my age settled in right behind me and didn't let go for the first half the race. We stayed with each other right behind the pace vehicle, at the same exact pace. When we finally reached the turnaround point, the kid threw in a surge and passed me. I tried to stay with him, but after 20 or 30 meters he was still gaining and I opted to drop back a bit so I wouldn't die later on.
After a few minutes, he had a sizeable lead on me; I would hazard 100 to 150 meters (about 30 seconds). I had picked up the pace though, so I was still running even faster than I had been in the first half. With half a mile left, I realized he had slowed down a tad and I was very slowly catching him. I said to hell with it and started kicking with 800m left. We rounded the final corner, with 200 to 300m left, and my friends and family and girlfriend were there, cheering for me. He was only about 20 or 30m ahead of me by then, so I told my brain to shut up and stop bitching and went into all-out sprint mode. I caught the kid with 100m left or so and we sprinted neck and neck until just before the finish. I somehow found a higher gear and just barely out-kicked him to come in first overall with a time of 16:59!!!! We shook hands and congratulated each other and I'm pretty we both went off to puke.
My mother was taping the race and I just got a tv card so I digitized the last 30 seconds of the race, right where I caught the kid and we sprinted to the finish. It doesn't look like we're running that fast because we were both so tired but we were flying. Here's the video:
http://www.xcgeorge.com/stuff/moonlight.wmv
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