…and I did a little of both yesterday when I completed my very first “official” road race in downtown Nashville. I ran the Nashville Predators Fangtastic 5K, which I would have never thought I would do even a month ago, but now I am so glad I did. I confess at one point, I considered not running, but I decided I had to complete this race no matter what. It was kind of a symbol of being able to push through adversity, even if I was going to go it alone now.
It was just over a month ago on the evening of December 26th when I got the sudden wake-up call that I needed to start doing something to improve my fitness, as well as burn some energy to help clear my head over some things I was working through in my personal life. I got started with the Couch to 5K program, which slowly works you up from walking to running longer and longer intervals. There were several great iPhone apps to help keep me on track as I worked through the program. Even though I was only to Week 4 of the program, I did manage to run most of the race yesterday. I did resort to “speed walking” one uphill when I realized I was walking up it faster than I was jogging it.
Yesterday, right before race time, I remembered about the “Map My Run” service and figured that might be fun to gather data while running the race. I downloaded the app, and it worked great. You can see the map of my run route and even do a 3D video “fly-by” of the route.
According to the official results:
My Gun Time: 33:38
My Chip Time: 33:15
“Gun Time” is the traditional time measurement from the sound of the starting gun to crossing the finish line. It’s more of a what people would think of a race vs. the other runners, i.e. “I crossed the finish line first,” but doesn’t take into account the large crowd at the starting line, which can take 5-10 minutes to clear out. “Chip Time” is measured from when I actually crossed the starting line (I was in the middle of the pack) to when I crossed the starting line.
My overall pace: 10:44. A little slower than the 5:40 miles I used to post in high school, but then again, I was a lot younger and lighter then. I placed 51st out of 75 in my age group (Male 35-59). I placed 675th overall, and If I’m reading the results right, I placed 384th out of all males.
As I ran through downtown Nashville, I passed several landmarks that brought back some memories and helped me come to peace with things. Places such as: The YMCA I almost joined on the very same night I found out things were going to change for good, the road I would have turned down had I bought a house there, and the farmer’s market where we spent some great times shopping for international foods that I rarely got to prepare because of the calorie counts. Running past these places was cathartic for me.
Most importantly, I think I’ve made my peace with Nashville again. I’m looking forward to the next event, and yes, also the next race.