An Ethical Dilemma - Part III or the Ras na hEireann 5K

Sunday 15 March turned out to be a beautiful day.  I took the T up to Davis Square, and walked toward the starting line.  This time I lined up near the front of the 9 minute section, as the last time I was too far back, and it was really difficult to get past people.  I was not feeling particularly festive, partially because I felt a bit of a fraud.  After all my pontifications, here I was stood, lined up, waiting to race.  The truth of the matter was that I wanted that medal, and that had overridden all other feelings.

So, not feeling that great, I decided that if I could not enjoy the race, at least I could try and run a wee bit faster.  It was a slow start, but as soon as our section took off, I started out hard.  I tried to slow myself down because a collapse is immanent halfway through the race, but I just kept going.  For the first time ever, I had decided to race with my ipod, and tried to pace myself with "take on me" by a-ha.

To no avail, I just ran like a banshee out of hell.  In the end, just after the 2 mile mark was a water stop, and I forced myself to stop, drink and walk for a few minutes.  Then off I went again, and soon found myself on the bike path.  That usually means the end is close by.  This time however, it seemed to go on forever and it was really hard to sprint.  I told myself to step on it, and had no idea what the clock said in the end, as I could hardly see!

I picked up my medal, a bottle of water, and took the T home.  Finally the results were posted.  Mind you, I am still slow, but compared to my previous time, I have improved by 6% in 4 months!  I did my second 5K in 27:56, which means my split was 9 minutes.  I placed 49/219 in my age group, and 1806 in a total field of 4150.  

My next 5K is on Sunday, and this time I am going to do a mile warm up first.  I find it a bit difficult to go out fast, and am wondering if a warm up makes any difference.  I decided to post one of the race pics (courtesy of Ted Tyler), with me looking like the very banshee aforementioned in this post.   Perhaps I should consider buying a pair of sunglasses which might make me look less agonised!

In conclusion, I am glad I ran.  I had a great time, contributed to a good cause, and improved my time.  The race also gave me a moment for reflection and yes, I am still going to write that letter to the race organiser, Paulie.