3rd Annual Fly-in Race day - 5/21/2011

Read about a cool 5k race on the run 26 group Facebook page.  It’s the 3^rd Annual Fly Day 5k, next Saturday, May 21^st.  The run starts at the Future of Flight and follows the Paine Field runway near The Heritage Museum.  It’s a benefit organized by the Paine Field Fire Department.  For an avid runner that is also an Airplane buff, what’s more cooler than running along side Boeing commercial jets, WWII era war birds and everything else in between ??  Well I’ll tell ya, not much else :)  Well in truth there are much cooler things but I couldn’t mention them in this family-oriented blog ah ah ...

Race day - 5/21/2011

My last 5k was St Patricks’ Day Dash March 17th, which also happened to be my first race ever.  I completed the run at a leisurely pace at 29 minutes some.  Now ... this race, I meant business.  Although I didn’t set out for a Personal Record (PR) my goal was under 29:00.  It was cold and sprinkling ... perfect.  The first mile started along the service road running eastward.  Soon after the race started I could see the race leaders breaking away.  I let go of the glimmer of hope to place at the top.  It looked like there was about 20 - 30 runners in front of me.  I settled quickly into a good pace, 7:08 min/mile.  I was worried about keeping that pace for 3 miles.  The service road led to the outskirt of the airport before leading onto the tarmac ... The scenery along mile 2 was cool, WWII warbird displays on the left of me ...  I just caught a glimmer of the planes as I worked my way up several runners ... I was starting to struggle with the pace.  This particular course had a slope the last mile that I hadn’t anticipated would be so challenging ... The though of giving up dawned on me as I was nearing mile 3.  By giving up I don’t mean stop running, just slowing down significantly.  But I though to myself ... I am so close ... then I saw the finish sign dead ahead by the firehouse ... I pushed one last time for this race, pass the gal in green short like she was walking the race it seems ... saw the timer I was still in the 20’s but by the time I crossed it was 21:01 ... 

I soon headed for the firehouse for an awesome pancake breakfast.  


Pictures from the 3rd Annual FlyDay 5k Run/Walk

5/23/2011

The results are in:  21:06 ... 11/258 ... 6 in my age div (over 30).  Great placement, great time ... I feel I could had done better.    I didn’t want it hard enough ... Which makes me wonder ... What kind of a runner am I?  I placed better at short distances event, but I don’t enjoy 5k as much because of the intensity of the race ... The Heroes half felt much easier and more enjoyable.