2011 Redondo Beach Superbowl Sunday 5K

The other day, my running buddy, John, texted me “Are we running the Superbowl Sunday race? And if so, the 5K or the 10K?”  My first reaction was “aw shit”.  Namely because I haven’t run in about a month – not since my attempts to train for the 10K – which I’m pretty sure was my last post on this blog.

It wasn’t that I was lazy and that’s why I stopped training – there were a lot of reasons.  There was all the rain and I was sick at the same time.  And there was the bad back pain I was experiencing.  Rather than continuing to exacerbate it, I figured I should just stop and let it heal and then I can come back stronger than ever – much like what I did with my knees and my shins.  After the half marathon I took about 2 years off and then started training for the marathon.

So since I’m in pain, one would think that the obvious answer to John’s text (2 days before the race) would be, “no, i’ve been hurting too much and don’t think I’m ready”.  Instead, I wrote “Sure! But it needs to be the 5K, not the 10K because my back has been hurting too much”.  I’m a genius.

Come race day though, I wasn’t the one with the crazy ideas to run when I shouldn’t.  It was actually John who had spent 6 hours in the ER with his wife, gotten home at 3:30am, crashed around 4am, and then woke up when I texted him at 6am that I was on my way to carpool.  He’s a trooper, let me tell you.

We ran pretty hard for the condition our bodies were in.  The first half mile we ran with John’s sister, then around mile 2, so that we didn’t spill our water (which was our excuse), we walked for a little bit and ran mile 3.  John was going a lot faster than I am, so I told him to leave me by 2.5 miles.  In the end, I came in at a respectable 36:08, which is pretty damn good for not having run in a month, not being able to breathe half the time, and for still being sore 2 days later.  It made me feel better about myself too, knowing that I can run under 11 minutes without a ton of training.

And the amazing thing?  my back hasn’t been sore even a teensy bit since the race other than usual “i lifted too much” pains.

maybe this means I can do the PV Half in May? hmmm….

added later…

i almost forgot! the beer this year was terrible!  They only gave ONE cup of Michelob Ultra Light.  That’s not even beer.  That’s pisswater that can’t even give you a buzz after running 3.1 miles with no food.  Last year was at least 2 cans of Asahi.  I know I’m a bit of a beer snob and I know they City of Redondo probably paid minimal to null for Michelob to be a sponsor, but goodness gracious, they should be a little more picky in their choices.  How am I supposed to be proud of drinking Michelob at 8am?  Now, give me a guinness or a newcastle, or even a saporro and we’re having a different kind of discussion…