Red Shoe Shuffle 5k Recap

  The stage was set for my first 5K of 2012.  I have to say I was looking forward to this race after running the DC Half Marathon...that excitement was only heightened by the early morning festivities of the Red Shoe Shuffle.  All the speakers were great, but what was really cool was seeing the kids peak out their windows watching all the runners before the start of the race.  This was really a race for them and the Ronald McDonald house.

  During the lineup I noticed a couple of people that looked pretty fast, but I was hopeful based on the competition that a top 10 finish could be in order. 

  So we had the normal countdown for a race 5-4-3-2-1 and then we were off…I clicked start on my watch and then it displayed zeroes…and more zeroes and although the time was running I couldn’t figure out how to see the time on the watch…this has happened one other time during a training run and immediately this race was doomed.  My whole strategy really depended on that first mile in which my goal was to run at a 7:00/pace (last 5K I ran my first two miles at 6:40 and then crashed going uphill on mile 3).  I also knew that due to concentrating on my watch and not my overall pace and etc by the time I gave up on my watch I was way too close to the leaders.  This race was pretty much over before it started … and it started all downhill on Eutaw St. for about the first 1.5 miles. 

Objects in this picture are slower then they appear

  As you can see a picture of me passing Pratt and Eutaw…this was running denial as I knew I was essentially in trouble at some point this race.  I was tired by the time we hit M&T stadium and when I made my way around M&T I passed one runner (Was I going faster or was he also dying?...I would find this out in about 30 seconds afterwardsJ)



I'm actually smiling...



  After I passed my orange shirt friend I really felt horrible..almost to the point I wanted to drop out … I did contemplate dropping out (that’s never happened before)…but just tried marching up Eutaw St.  I got passed by the first place female early up the march to Eutaw and one other runner.  After we made the turn to Baltimore St…I really didn’t have too much left…I started to see what looked like one of the top place runners making his way back and he said, “Hang in their guy.  It’s right around the corner” about 5 seconds later another female runner came side by side with me.  I gave it my all and then I encouraged her that we were almost there and that we could push it.  I hope she didn’t consider this taunting as I was trying to be encouraging.

  Finally the finish line never looked so good.  I crossed at a time of 21:56 and 15th overall.  So to recap:

The Good:  The race was for a good cause and there were more spectators than I thought

The Bad:  My pacing and watch issues

The Ugly:  Wanting to drop out of the race (next time I will need to set a goal like if I catch up to person X in the race then I can stop…as I’m pretty sure I won’t stop if I catch someone).

Thanks for all that put on this race!