Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Running The Major Way

When we were younger, we all had dream of running as fast as Chetarah from the Thunder Cats or the Flash Gordon cartoon character. As we got older, the probability of running as fast as either of these two super heroes dwindled to the size of nothing. Saying that, running a 5K run has become a greater fascination for me over the years. Follow me as I take you through my blood, sweat and tears in preparing for a 5k race in Covington, KY.

Runner's Log #1
In that past few years, I have flirted with the idea of becoming a better runner. Last year I ran two 5K races, The Mini Heart Marathon and the Reggae Run. Both were fun and both challenged my running ability.

Today, I remembered that a former employer has sponsored a 5K Run for the past couple of years so I visited their website to see if they were going to continue in the tradition. Sure enough, they are. Kenton County Public Library will be hosting their 3rd Annual "Racing 2 Read 5K Run/Walk" on June 10 at 9am.No longer an employee of KCPL, but they have been an employer of mine for a good part of my working career. I starting working for KCPL the summer I graduated from high school in 1995 until I entered the military December of 1997. Upon my release from the Army early 2001, and was rehired at KCPL as Reference Desk Librarian assistant. Over the next three and half years, I moved up the ranks to the Computer Learning Center Program Director and then to the Supervisor of the entire circulation Department. In October of 2004, I left KCPL to pursue other avenues. This June will mark the third 5K hosted by the Library. At the first one, I was in charge of the Kids Fun Run which was a block long race just for kids. How fun...I had planned to run the 5K the second year, but a mishap and a night watching Monique at Newport On The Levee prevented me from participating. Surprisingly the time that I have completed the last two 5K's in the same time, 33:25 min, kind of scary, I know Today, I ran for 30 min and traveled 2.85 miles. It looks like I have got some work to do. I want to shave at least 5 min off the 5K in June.

Runner's Log #2
Last week I made a mental commitment to run the Racing To Read 5K run sponsored by the Kenton County Public Library. Even though the commitment was there, a running plan was not. Thursday I did some research on training for a 5K and found some good advice and training runs that I felt comfortable with.
Thursday, was an easy training day so I walked on the treadmill for one hour and went 2.88 miles. Saturday was a hard day, so on the treadmill I ran 30 min and went 2.82 miles.
I don't seem to be getting any faster.

Runner's log #3
Today I did not seem to run as hard as I have been the past couple of time that I have jumped on to the treadmill. But today at lunch, I ran my normal 30min on the mill but this time I traveled the equivalent of 2.94 mile. Still not as fast as I want to be, but I guess it will do.

Runner's Log #4
Today was the day. As I walked out of the door to head to the race, the thought to just stay at home due to the dark sky and chilly weather, crossed my mind but only a split second. Once at the race I see that there are many more people than I had expected. Later, after the race, I found out that registration for this race had almost doubled since the year before. The race promptly started 9am by John Lomax from WKRC Channel 12 and I was off. I tried not to run as fast in the beginning, as I do on the treadmill, but it did not work. About 2 1/2 miles into the race, I walked for about 10min. The good thing about this course is that the last mile or so is somewhat down hill so that helped a bit. Bottom line is, I achieved my goal! I ran the race in 29min and 31 sec.

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