So I haven't done a lot of running in the month or so since the marathon. There was that whole "ouchy calf" incident, and I've been doing some cycling while trying to figure out what bike I want to buy. (btw - if you are in Austin and in need of bikes or other "Tri gear", definitely hit Jack & Adams. Those folks are great, extremely patient, and knowledgeable). But this past Saturday we had signed up for not one, but two back to back races.

The first race was the Daisy 5K. It's billed as the oldest 5K in Austin, but since we don't do a lot of 5K's I'll just take their word for it. Following the 5K is a little 2 mile race, the TNT (team in training) 2 Miler, which raises money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. A great cause! Both races started and finished on east 5th at San Marcos, making running both of them more convenient.

With no real training lately to speak of, C and I decided to take it easy on the 5K. She would test this theory first, as the women-folk got a 3 minute head start over the guys. Once we got underway, I found myself in a bit of a crowd and asking myself "Why do slower folks insist on starting up front?". Not that I'm fast, I was just faster than the folks in front of me. After some extensive zigging and zagging, I finally caught some "clean air" and was able to run straight for a change. I fell into a rhythm with the current folks around me and although I was breathing a little heavy, it seemed ok.

But then my arms started to tingle a little bit, and I just blamed it on my oatmeal burning off and my getting hungry again. I looked at my Garmin and saw that I was clipping right along at about a 6:08 min/mile pace. Yikes! No wonder my arms were tingling, I was going waaaaaay too fast! I determined to slow myself down, or die. Choosing the former, I backed off a touch just as the route took a right turn and headed . . . downhill. This downhill route lasted about 7 blocks or so thereby causing my "slowing down" to not really slow down all that much. By the time I hit the turnaround down by the lake I had only slowed to a 6:20 pace. Of course this was significantly slower than the little 10 year old blonde boy that chose the turnaround point to go blowing past me like I was standing still. (I think little kids should be forced to run with packs, since they just don't weigh enough on their own).

Heading back uphill now, my pace became almost more normal. But since I figured I had such a good first half I didn't want to blow it in the second. So I pushed it . . . a little bit. I came up behind C and told her "Happy Birthday' as this was indeed her special day, and then I gutted out my uphill climb. Finally I hit that left hand turn that signaled the final, somewhat long, straight away to the finish line. My chest was about to explode, so I gave into my desire to pull to the side and get 30 seconds of air. Drat! I could even see the finish line in the distance. No sooner did I take two steps than some (older?) guy runs past and says "Come on now, we're almost there". (!Chispas!) So my 30 second break turned into a 5 second break. I caught up to Mr. Peppy, who then challenged me to a sprint for the last 200 yards. I politely declined, stating if he would have just left me alone I would have been able to get my heart rate down to something below critical!

Anyhow, I let him go ahead of me as we saw the finish chute growing on the horizon. I pulled back behind him from time to time, but didn't have the legs to muster a pass. I was in quite the "spot of bother" for a lowly 5K. At last I looked up and saw the chute about 50 yards ahead. I also realized that I was roughly 10 feet off Mr. Peppy's right shoulder. So with a flick of my ankles, first my right and then my left, I whizzed on past the eternal optimist only slightly slower than a 10 year old kid wearing a pack. I cruised on into the finishing chute, declined a Daisy and opted for a bottle of sports drink. I exited quickly and found a railroad tie to collapse on and catch my breath. 16 ounces of sports drink later I was able to get back to the chute in time to see the birthday girl cross the line.

C's sister E was with there to cheer us on, although she missed my pass of Mr. Peppy, and we visited until the time came for the next race. The TNT 2 Miler was on the same route as the 5K, we were just to head down to the water stop at Mile 1, and turn around and run back. While some folks chose to make this a two mile sprint. I ran the two miles alongside my birthday girl, finishing hand-in-hand, just like we used to before I got all "whatever" (C's word, not mine) and started running like I could actually run fast. It was quite fun, and we helped out a great cause.

Since by now the weather was awesome, we hopped into a coffee shop on the corner, grabbed a couple of cups of java, and all three of us sat on the tailgate of my truckay to relax and chit - chat. What a great morning!