Today was the inaugural Run with Maud 5K, starting and ending at Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park. I wasn't sure how well I would run today, having had three wisdom teeth extracted four days ago. Things went smoothly with the oral surgery procedure. After a day and a half of rest, I had a nice easy run on Wednesday evening, returned to work on Thursday, and enjoyed another easy run on Thursday evening. However I started to have more pain that woke me up early on Friday morning, and again early this morning. I've tried to keep everything clean, but I still have intermittent swelling on one side of my mouth.
After I picked up my bib and the commemorative shirt, I decided to return to my car, change into the "Run with Maud 5K" shirt, and took another extra strength ibuprofen. I did an easy warm-up, which helped my legs to wake up. With about 20 minutes to go before the race, I decided to return to my car once more, to change into a pair of "Supershoes". I had purchased the Adidas version at the Atlanta Marathon expo in late February, and had run with them on a track on a few occasions. Given the expense of the shoes, I was saving them for a race when the road conditions were dry. I had intended to wear them at the South River 15K a couple of weeks ago, but I felt "imposter syndrome" before the race, literally thinking that I didn't deserve to wear these great shoes in public. (Then I set a new personal best for a 15K race, wearing Brooks Hyperion shoes, great shoes but not Supershoes.)
Obviously I was still thinking the same thing this morning, when I carried them in the trunk of my car, but I decided today was the day to put aside my own insecurity. Given the way that my gums were feeling, either I wouldn't race (but just do an easy run), or I would get caught up in the excitement of the race, and then regret not giving myself every legal advantage to help myself.
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| Looking behind me at wave B |
I felt a little self-conscious as I entered the corral for wave A (did I deserve to be in this fast wave?) but managed to calm down, thanks to a moment of silence in memory of Ahmaud Arbery, then some welcoming words from his mother Wanda Cooper-Jones. Then the race MC, Ronnel Blackmon, introduced Jackie Joyner-Kersee, the famous athlete from the 1984, 1988, 1992, and 1996 Summer Olympic Games, as our honorary starter. Wow!
I had taken a position near the back of wave A, but as we crossed the starting mat, I found myself in a slow-moving pack. After a couple of blocks and a right turn onto Ted Turner Drive, I found a relatively clear line to run. The shoes were so light, I felt like I was jogging, although my watch showed that I had averaged sub-9 minute / mile pace even in the crowd. The construction of these shoes favors a fore-foot strike, which supports a faster pace. I found myself moving ahead of other runners, gradually taking my average pace down to my goal of 8:20 minute / mile. I'm sure it helped that we were running down a gentle but perceptible incline. Shortly after a left turn onto Trinity Avenue, my watch sounded the 1 mile alert: 8:10. I backed off of my speedy pace just a bit. Even with Supershoes, I still had to run a smart race. My pulse race was around 160 bpm, a little high this early in a race. At this stage, several fast runners passed me - probably wave B speedsters catching up with me, although I couldn't read their bibs.
We made another left turn onto Memorial Drive, passing the new Georgia Supreme Court building to our right. This was very gradually uphill, and I began to notice the exertion. I hadn't planned on whether or not I would take water or walk through the water station at the turnaround point, but when I reached that stage, a little more than halfway through the race, I definitely walked for 30 seconds, drinking an entire cup of water. Turning onto Martin Luther King Drive, I quickly got back up to speed, and passed some of the people that had gone by during my short walk break. My pulse was still reading 160 bpm (but only later did I realize it had been closer to 170 bpm prior to the walk break). I could see the gold dome atop the State Capitol building up ahead. I was at 16 minutes elapsed approaching the interstate-75/85 overpass, then the mile 2 alert sounded at 16:29 elapsed, 8:19 for the second mile.
I was tired, but with just 1.11 miles to go, I was determined not to give in. Supershoes weren't going to help if I had not paced myself properly, but my earlier mistake from mile 1 was baked in to what I could run in mile 3. Amazingly, my gums weren't hurting at all. I was definitely fighting for my breath, signalling oxygen debt. We were going uphill, nothing extreme, but definitely noticeable. I felt my legs slowing down. Then the thought of Ahmaud Arbery unsuccessfully trying to outrun his pursuers (in two trucks) spurred me to not give in to an unplanned walk break, although I was totally in the anaerobic zone. Right turn onto Central Avenue, how many blocks to Decatur Street?
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 I wonder if that was due to recovering from oral surgery. |
The answer was just two blocks. At the left turn, a volunteer called out "Just a half-mile to go!" My watch showed 21 minutes at that point. Four years ago, a half-mile in a 5K race would have been about 4 minutes for me. Actually the distance remaining was about 0.6 miles, 1 kilometer, still less than 5 minutes at my peak fitness. But now I was really struggling. Several runners passed me, one wearing a wave C bib (I learned afterwards). My eyes were closed, sweat was streaming down my face despite the cool temperature (around 60 deg F). Then someone called my name, from an Atlanta Track Club truck heading the opposite direction. That woke me up, I took a quick glance at my watch, 24 minutes elapsed. I could see the CNN tower ahead, a landmark from the final half-mile of the marathon. I gradually forced myself to speed up, coinciding with cresting the hill. It was a slight downhill the rest of the way, I tried to let the Supershoes carry me along. Mile 3 alert at 25:09 elapsed, 8:39 for mile 3. Even having slowed down, that was substantially better than my progress in the Northside Beltline 5K three weeks ago. "It's gotta be the shoes" I thought, especially since I was in better shape three weeks ago.
As the finish line came into view, 100 - 150 feet away, it seemed that there was no one in front of me. Then a runner passed on my left, moved quickly in front, but that spurred me to expend my last calories of energy. I noted 26 minutes and change on the official race clock, stopped my watch after crossing the finish line at 26:07. Wow, definitely better than I expected to run today.
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| Post-race photo. This may be the first race I've run wearing the official race shirt, normally a no-no, but seemed totally appropriate today. |
My official time was 26:01, and shocker - 3rd place age group! I think only 5 people older than me ran faster today, based on a quick survey of the results by age group.
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| I'm grateful that I get to do this, and at age 60 |
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