Y Turkey Trot

In a word: Exhilarating. As we were driving to the race my girlfriend mentioned she had never seen me in such a mood. It was a competition mood. I hadn't been in that frame of mind since high school swimming. It is exciting. I had goosebumps and my hands and feet were cold. I was a little worried though with rain and puddles on the ground. My feet were already a little cold as it was. Then I had to go to the bathroom before the race actually began. As I was walking up to the starting line the race began. Off and running. The first 5 minutes seemed so long. But then the rest of the race seemed to blur by.

Overall I felt like my pace was pretty good. I didn't run out of steam before the end of the race. Even after the sprint to the end I was winded, but not lactic acidy. I am pretty sure that I ran much better than the 30 minutes I was shooting for.


Then after the race, I was expecting to be able to get my time. Buuuttt... They didn't post them that day. Apparently only the fastest people that get trophies have their times known. I have to wait until Monday to get mine back. I was expecting swim meet style where the times are posted as the sheets fill up.

Overall it was a great first 5K. I had a couple people ask me about my shoes. They seemed intrigued. I can imagine, especially because I was the only one there with them. Not having been in the running community very long, I figured that they were something that a bunch of other people would be doing. Oh well. I love my five fingers. Wouldn't be able to run without them.

As for the picture... Cara didn't get me crossing the finish line. The race went a little faster than she anticipated, and there were over 1,000 people. Just as it was my first race running, it was hers photographing. We will both get better =D.

My new friends

Its amazing what happens when the headphones come off. This morning I 'rehearsed" my 30min 5K, and ended up doing it in 29. I'll enjoy being able to shave minutes off while it lasts. Lol. But then I did a little lifting and went back for another mile. During that mile I took my headphones off. The result: it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I figured that without music to "distract" me it would take me soooo long to run the mile. The uphill seemed long, but the level was awesome.

After this, I was encouraged to keep the headphones off for the lifting portion. Again, to my surprise, the workout didn't seem to drag on. It was still high energy, just my energy. While the headphones were off I couldn't help but overhear three ladies talking about their turkeys for tomorrow. I gave them my 2 cents and we had a little conversation about what each was making for Thanksgiving.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, the race is tomorrow. I got my number yesterday, and I'm sooo excited.

I'm Hooked

Woke up at 5 today and it was raining and miserable in B-more. So I decided to run at the gym rather than outside. I ran before my lifting routine. I noticed that I was feeling pretty tired running after lifting. A good choice. I met my goal of another 30 minute 5K to prepare for Thanksgiving, and wound up running another mile after that. I couldn't help but laugh to myself when I got off. Only two weeks ago my knees would tremble if I looked at a treadmill the wrong way.

I focused on my foot landing today. I watched this video yesterday that allowed me to really get a feel for how different running in Five Fingers is.

The arch and mid-foot strike on the left foot are so pronounced it made me take notice. The guy that posted that also has some other video that I watched and were really good.

I also got asked about the five fingers again today. The guy seemed really impressed that I could actually run in them. I simply said, "I couldn't run without them."

Turkey Trot on 11-26

So I have found a turkey trot up in Bel Air for Thanksgiving. Yesterday I was able to pound out another 5K on the treadmill in 30 minutes. Taking a rest today and then tomorrow I am going to run an outside course. Hopefully I'll be over this little bout of sickness by the time the race comes around.

On an unrelated note, my girlfriend and I celebrated our one year anniversary yesterday (even though it was really last Monday). We went up to Boordy Winery and had an awesome time. I never knew you could grow so many grapes on such little land. They only have 40 acres of cultivated grapes. The best part was that I still smelled like campfire this morning =D

A 5K, no way!

I ran my first "5K" today! Who would have thought? Just thinking about running 3.1 miles used to be enough to make my knees hurt. I also got the first question about my vibram five fingers today. two guys in the gym were like, "Where did you get those shoes?" I told them where and also why I bought them. I felt like a saleman. LOL.

Now that I know I can run that far I'm thinking about signing up for a real 5K. I know that there are always a lot around Thanksgiving. If anyone knows of one in Baltimore or nearby (Ellicott City, Columbia, etc) let me know. Maybe I can find one tomorrow.

First gym outing with five fingers

Gotta admit, I felt a little self conscious when I pulled into the gym parking lot. As I was walking up I wondered if they would even let me workout. Once I made it past the front desk, I knew I had it made. They were really awesome and gave me a better center of gravity for some exercises. I was having so much fun feeling the ground that I was walking on that I didn't think to see if anyone was staring. But then the lifting was over and it was time for the first run. Walked for the first minute and then started a light run at 6.0. I immediately noticed that my stride had shortened. Also, that there really is no padding. It really felt like I was running barefoot. Then around the 12 minute mark I started to feel a rubbing on the inside of my right foot. I decided to call it a day so that I could come back stronger tomorrow. I just can't get over the fact that I might be able to finally run again after all these years.

Lug Bolts >:O

Today I bought new rims and tires for my car. Spent most of today looking for a key to get the lug bolts off of my 2001 VW Golf GTI. I would rather find the key and re-use the old ones than spend $4.75 on new ones at the dealership. The problem is that I think the wobble extension will eventually strip the bolts, thus causing me even more trouble. They are stupid 14mm x 1.5 tuner lugs. If anyone else has had trouble with this, just stop looking now. There is no such thing as a double square drive, 8 bit hex or allen key, or even a single square that is large enough. At least I have no idea where to find one. I ended up spending 2 hours searching sites, calling stores, etc. I guess I will just have to use the wobble to get them all out and replace them with some that I found at TulipCityWheels.com.

In the off chance that someone has indeed found something that might help post it just to humor me.