23 May 2009 Running and Walking

At 5:50 I woke up and ate breakfast. At 6:30 am I decided to go ahead and run a certified 5K in a nearby town, Chillicothe, IL.
The event was called the Riverrun (results here)

Time: 25:40, or 8:16 minutes per mile.

I got there at 7:20, registered, and then warmed up. My legs were like lead; my calves were heavy. So, I did about 2 miles.

Then came the race; I decided to stay behind someone who had been finishing a few seconds behind me; I forgot that he had been doing speedwork.

This strategy got me to mile 1 in 7:35. I thought “hey, I didn’t know that I could sustain this for 5K”. About 400 meters later I found out that I couldn’t; I ended up walking. I took a few more jog and walk reps before I could return to easy running; that disastrous second mile took 8:43 and got me to mile 2 in 16:19. I was able to sustain a medium run for the last 1.1 miles (9:21, or about 8:31 for that mile) and get it over with; afterward I walked around trying to shake it off.

The cool down gave me 6 miles total.

I then drove to the Rock Island Trail and walked 14 miles (plus). It was warm though we were to get a brief rain shower when I was 12 miles into it.

This walk (easy effort) took 3:24; (14:35 pace) I was about 1 minute faster on the return leg. The trail is crushed limestone and that makes for somewhat slower than road walking.

The highlights of my walk

1. I saw a coyote; it was on the trail, scrambled off and then I saw it running though the brush along side of me.

2. With three miles to go, I heard the unmistakable mating call of the green frog. The recent heavy rains had made a temporary ditch and it was sitting beside the water! It jumped in very quickly, as did its buddy.

Later, I heard the cry of the American toad.

My right leg bothered me a bit (behind the knee) but given the fact that it was warm, humid and rain was on the way, that was entirely understandable.

One other thing I noticed: trail traffic is highest within 1-2 miles of the entrances (Alta, Dunlap, various McMansion parks) but tapers off very quickly. I like getting past those points where the “once in a while when the weather is pretty” types are long gone.

I did notice my former mechanic (the shop that he worked at closed due to owner retirement) on the trail; he was running very smoothly and efficiently.

In all, I collected 20 miles (5 run, 15 walk) for the day; I’ll shut it down for while, aside from a “fun” social 4 mile run on Memorial Day and perhaps something longer on the weekend of June 6-7.

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