[92] Race report: Magnolia 5K

ORN: This morning I drove two hours to run in the Magnolia 5K. It was the final race in the Kentucky State Park's 2009 race series. My official time was 27'42", and I finished second in my age group, earning me a medal. With my warm up, I have run 5.31 miles today in 47'15". My watch said the race was 3.31 miles, which, assuming that's right, would have made my adjusted time a much better 25'57". I'm not going to complain about it, though. The course had some challenging hills, and I just didn't have it in the tank today to do much better.

Not that a better performance would have garnered me a trophy anyway. The guy who took first place ran it in 20-something. Impossible. Again, I have no complaints about the day. It was a good day for a race, and I had fun. OK, well, I can complain about one thing.

Mr. Two-Sizes-Too-Small-Split-Shorts-Dude, I celebrate that you are a fit and trim 50-54 year old man. I hope when I am 50-54, I run as well as you did [taking home a trophy.] And I hope I look as good as you do. Seriously, man, you have a great build. Some of your tattoos impressed me, too. I can say all this because you were damned near naked, wearing nothing but split shorts that were at least one size too small. As my wife said when I described you to her, "Nobody wants to see that. Unless it's Brad Pitt in Troy. And only Brad Pitt. And only in Troy." And then she went to the video store for something. So next time you leave the house, please put on some more clothes. Six-foot-one and 190 pounds is just too much half-naked man for most people to stomach.

What about the race itself? It was well-managed, as they all have been. These are small races, fewer than 100 runners, which accounts for why a guy running over 27 minutes is still in the money. Still, the Parks department does a fine job. The course wended through a cottage area of Rough River State Resort Park, past the Lodge [twice], around the nine-hole golf course, and back up the road from a beach. As I said before, it was hilly. The hill coming up from the beach in the last half mile of the race was particularly nasty. But we runners and walkers had the roads to ourselves. It was a great day. Warm but cloudy with a nice breeze.

The first mile was fast because it was mostly downhill. I flew down the hill, trying to not let my legs brake me at all. Consequently, my first mile split was an amazing 8'04". If I had kept up that pace, I would have PR'd. Unfortunately, I started out too strong and the hills hit back causing my second mile splint to be a gasping 8'33". In the last mile, I tried to salvage the race and beat the runner next to me, but I only managed to squeeze out an 8'21" split. [She ended up beating me.] The rest of the race, the stretch, included that bastard of a hill rising from the beach, which I stormed up at a decent 8'30" pace.

Afterward, there were water bottles, bananas, and apples to recover with. Race officials quickly compiled the results and handed out awards for the current race [two deep in the age groups and overall male & female] and the overall series [top two male and female.] There were also door prizes, but I didn't win any.

I had every intention of running the remaining 12 miles I owe to the FIRST plan today, but it started to drizzle. Call me a wimp, but after that tough race, I wasn't up to running for two solid hours in the rain. It's 17:21 right now, and if I can, I may run the remaining 12 tonight. More likely, though, I will do them tomorrow morning. Unless it's storming.