RR: Linae's Armadillo 5K

Clock time 30:01
Real time????? Don't know. 29-something.

They had a chip mat at the starting line and yelled at us to _walk_ across the mat after the starting gun causing a huge charlie-foxtrot. It took well over 30 seconds to reach the start. After all that, it's clear from the race results that they did not use those data. Whatever.

As for the race itself, the idea was to head out strong but not too fast. The Garmin helped me start conservatively, which was what I wanted. At mile 1 (9:26) I accidentally stopped the timer. But I didn't realize it because I wasn't that interested in the actual pace, just collecting HR data for a hard run. Oh well. I did restart the timer about 2 minutes later but it's value in telling me my "real time" was gone.

But that wasn't really the point. I wanted sub-30. I may not be well trained but I know how to race a 5K. Start strong but not too fast, pick it up at mile 1 and hang on. Mile 1 was a little too easy but soon after that I realized my lungs were going to hold for the duration so I let the dogs out. My fellow runners became the hunted, picking them off one by one, making sure to pass every single one of the preening girls in the matching "boot camp" shirts. Cosmetics for a 5K. Is that really necessary. The last mile was very tough and I resorted to pumping my arms to keep the legs going but the last mile is not time for thinking. It's time for running.

Assuming I did not slow down during the "missing" 1/4 mile, my average pace was 9:15 and, thanks to the magic of Garmin, I know the last half mile was close to an 8 minute mile pace with the last minute around 7:50. YEAH! Given that I haven't run hard in 4 months, I'm very happy. Nothing hurt during the run. Nothing hurts now. I'm back!

Off to find beer,