Yard Work

Man, I spent most of my weekend doing a yard project that I should have hired somebody to do.

I did get away Saturday morning to run the Wakulla Springs 5k. The run is all off road using multi use trails the public usually doesn't get to see. The springs are only 22 miles south of Tallahassee and I don't know why we don't go there more often it really is a beautiful place.

It was 70 and muggy when we got to sign up. They were already sold out of T-shirts which meant there would be a good turn out. We already have plenty of T-shirts so we paid for the no shirt option and took a stroll down to look at the springs. Rupe insisted on using my new Clip MP3 at this race and he farted around trying to get it just right as I paced waiting to start my warm up run. I'm trying to stop striking with my heal and was making a conscious effort to increase my turn over rate during our warm up and everything felt good, just a little weak in the legs, I commented to T that I just wasn't feeling it today but then I usually say that right before the start of a race.

I had picked out my nemesis from Tails and Trails in the line up at the start and figured if I paced him on the way out I could try and take him in the last mile. This guy is my age but still has a full head of blonde hair so he's not hard to spot. In fact that's how he beat me at Tails is I didn't think he could be in my class since he didn't have any gray hair.

It helps at these local 5k's to get toward the front quickly as the talkers and joggers like to line up early and clog things up. We started out on a short section of the entrance road then made a left onto a lime rock service road then a sharp right into the first sand two track section. I was right behind blondie and we were on a good pace just a little faster than I thought we'd do in the sand. I'd pass him and he'd pass me back until we hit the 2 mile marker. I saw him look at his watch and grunt. As I passed him I said "too fast?" and he said "yep" and I didn't see him again until after the race.

I almost matched my pace from the Bainbridge 5k but the course at Wakulla was a little longer and sandy in spots so I didn't get to hit a PR. I did manage to pace and pass blondie but couldn't match the pace of the first place finisher in my class so I ended up second. I was disappointed since I was the first to put my card in my age group box I thought I had it wrapped up but it was not to be. I love running off road it doesn't seem to hurt as bad as paved routes do and the scenery helps take your mind off the suffering. Oh well, my time last year was 4 minutes slower than this year so at least I improved. They give out wildlife photos as trophies which makes waiting around afterwards worth it.

If I want to ride my mountain bike on the weekends it looks like I'm going to need to put a halt to all this yard work crap.