On December 27, 2023 I ran my first race as an adult at 54 years old. That race was the goal target when I transitioned from walking to running. In order to continue running, I need to have a goal to reach. Without a goal, I don’t find running something I would just do. As my first race, my goal was to finish and I did just that. Sure, it sucked a little bit that I came in almost last in my age group and was way in the back of the pack overall. Regardless, it was a huge accomplishment. Here is the results of that first race:

When I setup the training for this year’s race, I set a new goal. Since the race was going to be on the 27th of December, I decided to set a goal of 27 minutes. I knew that was an aggressive goal, but I really thought I could hit it. At the time I set that goal, my 5k personal best was 31:40. Just after setting that goal, during a training run, I hit 29:10. I only needed to shave 1 minute and 11 seconds off to be in the 27 minute mark. My goal wasn’t to hit 27 minutes on the dot, but rather to be in the 27th minute.

Unfortunately, somewhere along the way to this race I lost the drive to get there. Perhaps self-sabotage or some other reason, I don’t know. What I do know is that I slacked off on training. Missed training days.. too many of them. So I knew full well that I was not going to hit my goal, though I would speak optimistically when talking to people. On the few training runs I did do in the two weeks before the race, I felt sluggish and slow. I just had to run the race, do the best I could and be okay with the outcome.

Notice that I was also slacking on doing anything with this blog. This is the first post in something like 2 months.

Yesterday was race day. The days leading up the the race, I was not looking forward to it. However, yesterday early morning as I was preparing for the race I noticed that I was actually a bit excited. I got to the race check-in, got by race bib and went for a warmup run. Standing in the cattle chute waiting for the start of the race, I was definitely excited. I was moving around, dancing to the music in my headphones to keep myself warmed up. The announcer called the start and off we went. Unlike last year where I was near the back of the line and behind the walkers, this year I hopped in near the front so. The first 200 meters or so were spent navigating some slower people, but it quickly cleared and I got into my pace. A pace that was still trying to hit that 27 min. I got the the first mile marker and I knew the tank was emptying quickly. I was going slower and slower. People that were behind me were now passing me, including what looked to be someone in his 70s (he finished first in his division at 29:50).

The rest of the race was a slog. Finally the last 500m or so, while I couldn’t see the finish line I knew it was coming quickly so I opened the reserve tank and flew like a sloth to the finished.

The clock in the picture above is gun time. Keep in mind that I did not cross the start until a bit after the gun so that time is not my time. Here is my result:

There are a few things to note in this result:

• This race was significantly faster than last year. Despite missing my goal, there is obvious improvement over the year.
• Not a big different in the weather between the two races, so there wasn’t an advantage to either
• There were ~200 more people this year in the race
• I was not near the back of the finishers. I was pretty much dead center.

Overall, I am pleased with the result. Sure I would have liked to have hit the goal, who isn’t a bit upset about missing goals? There will be some races that don’t go as hoped and some goals that will be over or undershot. I just have to deal with it.

Waiting in line for my race shirt…

What Now?

2024 is over and one 10k and two 5k races are in the bag. Where do we go from here and what is the next goal? Two words:

Half Marathon