I wouldn't call it clean shaven

I had thought about signing up for the Shave Your 5K challenge, but didn't want to embarrass myself if I either failed to beat my early PR, or simply failed to complete another 5K in time. But I did manage another 5K, just under the wire, and did manage to beat my PR.

At the last minute, while trying to talk my friend Pam into doing the Paris Mountain Road Race 5K, I wound up talking myself into it. The catch? It was exactly 1 week after completing the Kiawah Island Marathon. If you haven't been following my blog long, yes I am that stupid! While others are taking 1-2 weeks completely off of running, I did a shakedown run on Thursday, and competed in the race on Saturday (Dec 13th).

Now I will fully admit, my legs are still really sore. They were only just beginning to feel better, with my calf extremely tight and the area behind the same shin very sore. That does not deter me, however, since I am caveman - watch me run! The only obstacle to overcome now was the weather. It's been cold here. Not Canada cold, or even Dakotas, Wisconsin, or New York cold, but still pretty cold.

So, I sign up for the race on Friday evening, where Mendy was volunteering at the registration and packet pick-up event. Fleet Feet of Greenville has done an awesome job of putting this on the last few years, and this was no less great. In lieu of getting (yet another) race shirt, we got cinch bags this year. Yay, something functional! And my race shirt drawer is happy to not have another addition to bulge it's seams.

We get up at a reasonable hour (7 AM) on Saturday to prepare. It's upper-mid 20s outside, and I guess on my race apparel. It wound up being spot on with the approximately 29-31 degree race start temps. I was chilled before (not "chilling" mind you), but began to warm up as I ran. My friend, Pam, was happy she stayed with the tights and long sleeve, too. As we left Mendy to watch the collection of children (her 2 and our 1), we were off to the starting mob.

The course doubles back on its self along a very scenic mall on the Furman campus, almost one half mile long each direction. As I came back by the start and saw the elapsted time (ET), I was fairly happy, but couldn't remember where the 1 mile mark was. I passed a few people, and found my self in good position. Just around the corner, there it was, and I saw 6:04 on my watch. Around the back of the course we came upon the lonely single, but quite sharp, hill on the course just past mile 2 (6:20 something). The dude ahead of me started walking near the top; BOOM! I gotcha, bro! Now on the down slope of the hill and the race, I cam upon some water that was spilling across the path. Woops! Yeah, it was ice! I passed the aid station, and told them about the ice, but they seemed disinterested. So, I pressed on, trying hard to hold on to my position. I finally made it back onto the mall, and tried my hardest to muster up an honest sprint. I looked at my ET, and realized I wouldn't make my year's goal.

I crossed the line in 19:38 clock time (probably 19:35 chip time) which was 26 seconds faster than my PR at the same race last year, 9th place overall, and 1st place in my age group. And I almost unswallowed all the nutrition from that morning just across the finish.

After leaving the finishing chute, I came back around to cheer in Pam, who wound up having a great run, and completely destroying her goal time! Way to go, Pam!!

Michael, of Fleet Feet, was the Race Director, and noted at the awards ceremony that I had just ran a marathon the week before, and in fact could barely walk one week before, but somehow was able to run a 19:xx 5K. So, I finally felt like one of those running freaks that do crazy (stupid?) feats of back-to-back running. And now I'm thinking of the next big 5K, the Greenville News 5K. Hmmm, maybe this running gig ain't so bad...

(Shhh, don't tell anyone I said that!)