As some of you may recall, we have a Thanksgiving tradition on my wife's side of the family. Each year, everyone in the family converges on North Wales, PA to share good food, good company, and to participate in the Gobble Wobble 5K Run and Fun Walk. Some of us run, some of us walk, and Scott stays home to cook a breakfast feast for after the race.
The Gobble Wobble 5K course is pretty hilly. Despite the hills, each year the competition seems to get faster. Winning times are going down and more people seem to be really racing. This year was no exception. In fact the winning time was a new course record at 15:41.
In past years we have arrived at the race location, gone inside and waited in long lines for the bathroom before making our way to the start line. This year, Melissa, Chad and I went straight to the start to warm up and use the porta johns. There was not much of a line at the porta johns so that worked out great. Plus as I have learned, if I warm up before the race, getting my heart rate up and getting out of breath, I have a much better race.
As I warmed up I was thinking about my goals for the race. I have been running track, and doing some trail running. In addition, I have been cycling and swimming. Given these workouts, I was thinking I might be able to have a decent race. As I finished up my warm up, I decided I would be happy with a 22 minute finishing time.
Before you know it, it was time to line up at the start and race. The race starts 0n a pretty significant downhill so when the gun goes off, there is a mad dash down the hill which makes the first mile a fast mile. Even though I have run this course a few times, I had forgotten how hilly it is. I knew there were hills but for some reason it seemed more hilly than I remembered it.
As I was racing, I noticed that most of the people around me were quite a bit younger. Perhaps I could do well in my age group. I ran the first mile in just under 6:30. The fast downhill plus my tendency to go out fast made this first mile my fastest. The second mile was much slower (7:41 pace) but then again mile 1 to mile 2 is all uphill (see elevation profile below). Mile 3 is mostly downhill with a final uphill before hitting the track. As I rounded the final turn of the track, I could see the finish clock. If I hurried, I could break 22 minutes. I turned on the gas and passed a few people to finish in 21:51 according to my watch, 21:53 according to the official results. I took 6th in my age group. Not too bad really. I think I could do better by training on more hills but overall, I was pleased with the performance.
The Gobble Wobble 5K has become a nice healthy Thanksgiving tradition. It is fun to be active when on holiday. In fact, the next day after the race, I had a leisurely morning followed by a late morning 40 minute tempo run. I felt great during this run and was glad to be out in the gorgeous weather.
On Saturday, we drove back to Richmond early to beat the traffic. After a quick nap, I went for about an hour walk down at the river and then swam for about a half an hour in the pool. Next on my list is to go for a 90 minute long and slow run. Then tomorrow our week of swimming, yoga, cycling, and running continues. My goal for this next week is to get into the pool more often to work on my stroke.
That's all for now. I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving and thanks for reading. Comments appreciated.
2 comments:
Congrats on the Gobble Wobble!!!! Great job! Sounds like a fun tradition!
That elevation shot really tells the tale on that mile 2 elevation!
A good run, and a great holiday weekend!!!
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