One of my fundamental rules of running is that if the exercise man stands on your chest then you ought to slow down a bit. Unless you’re really tough. Then you just keep running until you collapse and die.
I tend to slow down long before the exercise man gives me any trouble. Maybe that makes me the opposite of tough. Maybe that makes me kinda slow.
On July 4th I ran a road race in Red Wing, Minnesota cleverly labeled the Red Wing 4th of July Road Race. I ran the 5k, not wanting to stress myself too much with a whooping ten.
The goal of this event, like any other running event, is to run your best time and beat the people four age categories older. Seeing how this is my first 5k, I had nothing to compare it with. Once, a person told me that if you can’t finish a 5k in less than a half hour, then you aren’t really running. My 33:38 indicates that perhaps I wasn’t actually running, but it’s a good number as far as I’m concerned.
It’s my best ever, actually.
Also, I beat the 78-year-old. (this is where I don’t mention that I was crushed by a host of small children.)
It turns out I haven’t been running much after my half marathon. There are piles of excuses that I won’t bother listing here. I’ll just sign up for another 5k and try to get my number down.
All this while hopefully avoiding any encounters with the exercise man.