That being said, I had my best month in my running shoes ever. Well, "best" is qualified by number of miles, 145 miles. This is 585 miles for the entire year. I'm going to roll over 1,000 miles easily this year. I didn't have a preset goal of running but it's kind of cool to see that on my personal Garmin Connect "odometer"... well, if they had one.
Races of July
All Star 5K - 22:53 / 7:24 Pace
5,440 participants showed up for this race through downtown KC. I signed up for this race because I had already dropped a few bucks on every other MLB All Star Game week activities, so why not for something I get to do myself? Joe, Kristen, and I met up an hour before the race and did one lap of the course and ended up in the second half of the runners for the actual start. My training plan called for 7 miles that day, so we did one circuit early to get close to that distance.
Being in the second half of the participants meant you were fighting a huge crowd of people who were there to walk. I shot immediately for the sidewalks and avoided wasting energy weaving around people.
This was still a training run but I tried to at least look like I was running hard... and I was. It was hot and my legs were still worn from running 14 miles the previous day.
The Glow Run 5k - 21:40 / 6:58 Pace
This race was a week after the All Star 5K, but it started at 9:15pm. Kinda cool as everyone was decked out in glowy garb. Similar to the All Star 5K, this race had around 5,400 participants. This race started in the Rivermarket and ran around the Rivefront Park.
Except for a bridge, it was a flat course but it was also a hot evening. I was pretty sweaty even before the race started but that might have been related to the cold I was trying to get over. This race had a corral system but it wasn't assigned. Kristen and I tried to get in the first corral but ended up in the second corral.
I pulled out my notes from the All Star Game and just shot for the sidewalks to get around the people who were there for the party atmosphere. By the time I ran out of sidewalks, the crowd had thinned out.
Both races had a huge fundamental problem. Their finish chute had a 90 degree turn after the finish line and narrowed to the end of the chute. This is a recipe for trouble with over 5,000 bearing down on it. TKB was stuck in the finish line of The Glow Run for nearly 15 minutes. The water bottles were hard to get to and only available on one side of the chute. When I made it through I was able to walk pretty easily through it but ended up going back into it so I could find a water bottle.
Overall I was happy with this performance as it was my fastest 5K of the year, considering my focus is on longer distances now.
Other Musings
The month has been good for base building on the running. I am feeling the need for some cross-training though so I don't get burnt out in these weeks totaling 40+ miles running. This weekend I'm scheduled for a half marathon race; therefore, I actually have one day free from running as I'm suppose to rest before the race. I normally run both Saturday and Sunday. While I will go for a pace run for 13.1 miles "somewhere" on Saturday, I'm planning to pull the bike out Sunday morning and go for a nice long ride.... "somewhere" as well.
And Finally...
I signed up for another "big-ish" race but more on that later.... I promise...