Race Results

Ran my second 10K this morning, Sat., 13 Oct 07.   I ran my first 10K in March 2007 in 1:38. Today I ran it in 1:07,..so 31 minutes faster.  I am pretty happy about that but man,....I came in 241 of 310 that started the run and 276 finishers, 126th of 141 men, 16th of 18 age 50-59.  Pretty sad overall but 31 faster than previous so gotta keep my focus.  Guess I won't make the summer olympic team this year.    I ran a 5K in Radford VA the weekend before and finished it in 27 minutes, but there were mostly serious runners there.  I finshed 27th of 30 participants, but because of my 27 minute 5K,  I had hoped to finish closer to 1 hour at the 10K today.  There were 2 uphills, one slow incline at the 2.6 mile point and one that was brutal at the 3.5 mile mark.  But I felt descent after the race and recovered pretty quickly. I have an 8K in Nov at the Suntrust 26 mi marathon in Richmond.  I also have a personal goal to be under 60 minutes in April 08 at the anniversary of my first 10K (UKROPS Monument Ave 10K in Richmond).   Guess I get to keep practicing if I want to get faster and maybe,...lighter. 

Maybe the stats don't look great overall in black & white but we know better.  Joe you should be very proud of yourself and what you have accomplished.  The fact that you are setting & completing these goals alone speak volumes.  Keep on training & achieving those wows.  Keep it up!!!!!  I know I couldn't do what you are doing.  I don't run for much of anything unless one of my family members is like hurt or something. 

Joe that is truly impressive! Can you ever have imagined that you would ever have done anything like this?!   Do not berate yourself for doing something that you could not have done previously - it is still a tremendous achievement!! You should be proud of yourself!  Heck I couldn't do that! I have a bad knee so I can't even run for more than a few hundred yards!  I am proud of you for your achievements and you should be too! Jackie

Thank you ladies. I appreciate the kudos, perspective, and encouragement.  I think doing the UKROPS 10 in March skewed my perspective on my abilities.  Of 20,000 entries in that one, I was in the back third but with the times I m doing now, it would have moved me into about middle of the pack and improved my standing and strengthened my confidence and stroked my ego.  Doing better by  this much time and finishing close to last, really pushes me to focus on the personal accomplishment and try no tto look at the overall standing.  I guess last year I would have been dead last with a waiting period before I got there.  Another way to look at it I suppose. The exercise has really helped wih my weight loss and muscle tone too so I am happy about that.  It also kinda scares me as to what will happen if I slow down now?  Does the weight stablize or would I gain without the running.  Not ready to find out.