Race Readiness

It was nice to be able to return to running again after several days of forced inactivity in January due to influenza.  But it seems to be taking forever to return to my former level of speed and distance.  I have to admit that I am an older runner now and returning to fitness is a steeper climb than I had anticipated.  What a struggle it is to complete even six miles now!  But Saturday's "long" run of that distance went well, and I was able to complete another mid-week six-miler Wednesday.  If I can go eight miles Saturday I will be a happy man.

And yesterday, for the first time in over a month, I attempted some "speed" work - a couple of 400-meter repeats.  It was exactly 32 degrees, mid-way between freezing and not-freezing, and a sharp westerly wind was blowing.  I felt as if I was teetering on the brink; but that's where real progress is made in any athletic endeavor.  I had new shoes on, and I was running in that familiar spot on Leonard Street where I always run my intervals, and suddenly I realized how exhilarating it is to run fast, even just a little bit faster than usual.  The scenery rushes by, legs a little wobbly at using those fast-twitch muscles again, breath sucking in the cool air.  And what a miracle!  I was able to run a 2:04 and 2:02, actually faster by several seconds than the last recorded 400s I ran on December 31.

Am I Race Ready?  Not a bit.  But that's never stopped me from toeing the start line before, and there is a race on the horizon that I am tentatively planning to run - the aptly-named Frostbite 5-K next weekend, which my little race book tells me I have run four times in the past.

 The 2014 Frostbite 5-K

Should I decide to go I have little doubt that my finish time will be my slowest ever on this course.  Which, of course, is not the point in running races at all.