Springbank Race Recap In Which The Unthinkable Happened!!

  Okay, I imagine when you read the title of this post and saw the word "unthinkable", you probably thought to yourself omg, he won!
   Well, actually, no I didn't so we'll get to the "unthinkable" part toward the end of this post.
   Today I ran in the 5k division of the Springbank Road Races here in London. It was a beautiful day for running, sunshiny with a bit of a breeze and almost no humidity.

Start of the half!

   There was also a half marathon division which started half an hour before the 5k race which took off at 8:30 in the morning. I got to the park and was making my way to the starting line when the half marathon runners passed me going the other way, right after their start. It was actually quite the sight, this mass of runners and I managed to get a pic as they headed my way. Maybe some day, when I grow up, I'll be a half marathon runner! 
 
 

   I had just enough time to get my stretching in and down some fluids before the race began. I started about three quarters of the way back from the front because, essentially, this seemed like the polite thing to do, didn't want to slow down any of the fast runners.
   My racing experience is very limited but so far I've found that if I'm running in a group then I tend to run at whatever pace that group is running at. Letting other runners dictate your pace seems like a terrible strategy and I remember thinking I should get away from this group of people and follow my own strategy. Then I remembered that I had no strategy and so hung in with them for awhile!
  

Lined up for the 5k start

Eventually, things started to thin out and I felt unencumbered by the masses.
   It was a fairly easy run and I only walked the one time, up the last hill. This was a planned walk that I timed for a minute and at the end of it continued running. At this point I was able to finish the race sans walking which, for me, was a bit of an achievement. I've been running this route pretty regularly the last month and I've never been able to complete the last stretch without a walk break. Yesterday, however, this was not an issue. Here, I think, is the difference between a race and a training run. By the time the last stretch arrives, there are actually people cheering you on, you can see the finish line up ahead and stopping to walk is about the last thing you want to do. Well, it wasn't the last thing I wanted to do but it was the last thing I was going to do!

Last loop for the half marathoners

   Approaching the finish line was pretty cool, I could hear my name being announced and people yelling "Way to go, 404!" (not an "error message", it was my bib number). My Garmin clicked in at 35:11 and I believe the chip time was 35:55, not a time I'm happy with but still pretty consistent with what my training was.
   After the race I hung around and cheered in some of the half marathoners, watched the 5k awards being handed out, took a couple of pics (way too self-conscious for a selfie) and headed for home.
   This is where the unthinkable occurred or, at least, where I became aware of it.
  

After the 5k, cheering on the others!

When I run, I wear custom-made orthotics, part of the PF treatment I've been undergoing and I'm continually transferring the orthotics from my running to my regular shoes. After the race, when I got home, I looked down at where I'd left my regular shoes and there was one orthotic sitting there! Knowing what I would find, I immediately went and checked the shoes I'd just raced in. One orthotic in, one orthotic out! Not only that, the shoe without the orthotic didn't even have its sock liner! Aren't I such a professional runner?! I can only surmise that with my mind so preoccupied with getting ready for the race and with the systems amped up a bit, I never even noticed one shoe feeling slightly different than the other. Hate gettin' old, seems like the unthinkable slowly starts to become thinkable!