I ran the 11th annual East Berlin Summerfest 5K this morning. The race is part the York Hospital Running Series so the attendance was pretty good; definitely more people than I was expecting. Luckily I had pre-registered, and was able to skip the lines and easily pick up my packet.
I pinned on my number (44), and ran a quick warm-up lap around the block. I also did some extra stretching to try to loosen up my legs.
It was after 8:00 until they actually started the race. The gun went off and I started to find my place in the pack. The first half mile or so was on extremely narrow side roads, so it was hard to change positions. Eventually it opened up on Locust Street and everyone settled into their pace.
The first two miles went extremely well; maintaining a quicker pace than normal. There were technically only two “hills” but each of them were long, slow climbs. Definitely not easy… at least for me. Thankfully, by the time I was starting to run out of energy I was past the second hill and already well on my way to the end.
One last turn onto North Avenue and all that was left as was a long, straight stretch to the finish line. A quick glance at my Garmin, and I already knew I was going to be happy with my time… and gave one final push.
According to the official results, I covered 3.11 miles in 28:42 (9:14/mi pace). My 1-mile splits were 9:03, 9:07, and 9:40. That put me at 157 out of 213 runners.
Yep, that is both a Personal Record for me and a fulfillment of the goal I set for myself back in January! To say that I was pleased with the results would be quite an understatement. ;)
Less than seven months ago, I could barely run a single block without getting winded. I certainly couldn’t run a mile, let alone a multi-mile race. This morning I finished over three miles in less than 30 minutes. That’s absolutely amazing to me.
I think I might celebrate tonight. ;)
Good job John! All that hard work has paid off. Good for you brother.