2ND in AG! LAST in AG!

   This past Sunday, I ran in the 5K event of the Springbank Road Races. I believe this was the 47th year for these races , making them the oldest in London. Along with the 5K, there was also a half-marathon and a Kiddie Trot.
   This was a run I had not trained for. A general running funk and some niggling groin/upper hip issues have essentially kept me off the roadways the past while so I had no real intention of running a good race, it just felt kind of good to be out there running with a group of like-minded others.

Milling around before the start of the 5K.

   I also had no true strategy for the race. I had no plan around actually attempting to run the whole thing, no plan around doing run/walk intervals, no plan around pacing, no plan around anything.
   Essentially, what ended up happening was that I ran to keep up with the last third of the runners and I walked whenever I got tired. Which was often.
   It was, though, a wonderful day to run!  Hardly a cloud in the sky and there was the tiniest chill to the air, a precursor to fall, I suppose, and a welcome relief from the heat and humidity we'd been having the previous week. I'd also decided to give my race photographer (Doralyn, my wife) the morning off as the race was an early start and she gets so few opportunities to sleep in that it seemed a shame to waste this one. Hence not a lot of pics!

And more milling around AFTER the 5K.

   So I ran and I walked and I got very, very tired.  There's my re-cap. My time was about what I expected (38.00 on the button) and this landed me 106 out of 113 runners. Frankly, if I'd known I was going to come in that close to last, I'd have been shitting bricks for the last week or so...
   Likely the most remarkable part of the day was the overall camaraderie of all the runners. Everyone seemed to be in good spirits, lots of laughter and high-fives, hugs and cheering. This is pretty hard to beat and part of the reason I sign up for races in the first place (it ain't about my performance!)
   The capper of it all was that I placed second in my age group! And won some Brooks running socks, to boot! Not only did I place second in my AG, I also placed last---to be truthful, ladies and gents, there were only two runners in my AG (60-64) and the other guy beat me. Badly. Like by about 14 minutes! Thank goodness the other couple of guys who normally run in my AG were busy doing the half!
   If nothing else, it got me back into the running mood (mode) and the idea of getting back out there on some kind of regular basis now is, for whatever reason, a lot more appealing! I'm also starting to wonder if the running doldrums I experienced over the summer might also have had something to do with the added heat. Now that the fresher air feels like it's arrived, the urge to get out there and run seems to be re-kindled!