My First 5 Miler

Today I did the Westfield 5 Mile Turkey Trot.

Howard, my friend from high school, was interested in doing some races with me. I joined the New York Road Runners Club, so I'll be doing some races next year in NYC. This will be cool because Howard lives in New York and, as a doctor, he's often on call and can't make it out to the 'burbs to run in circles. Since it was Thanksgiving and he was going to be in NJ this weekend, I signed up for a race in NJ and invited Howard, my brother, Mike Low and a few other people.

My brother had a hot date last night so he was unable to wake up in time to make the race. Mike Low wasn't planning to make it to the race, but early this morning he called me and I reminded him about the race and he decided to join us. So, it was me Howard and Mike.

Yesterday, I went to Marty's Reliable Cycle with Natalie to look at cyclocross bikes. She wants to get a Lemond Poprad, but nobody seems to have one for her to try. Marty's is the coolest bike shop around, so we went to see if they could order one or if maybe they had a bike that was almost as cool. Before we went to Marty's we went to another bike shop which I think sucks, so I won't link it here. I'll just call it CycleCrap. CycleCrap had an indoor cycle that was really cool. It was the CycleOps Pro 300PT:


(click to enlarge)

It had a huge range of resistance, it was very quiet, and it had a great display with lots of data. Unfortunately, it was $1,900. I decided I needed to get a trainer, but I wasn't going to buy it at CycleCrap, so we went to Marty's. They had the CycleOps Fluid² which I had seen there before, so I got that. It lets you use your own bike, which is nice since you'll be using that on the road anyway. I tried on some clipless pedal shoes and they were really cool, but they're very expensive and I'm not ready to make that jump yet. The guy at Marty's told me I should get a new tire for the rear wheel because the trainer is going to shred the tire and it's not smart to shred the kick ass tires I have on there now. So, I bought the trainer, a $12 tire and some tire changing lever thingies.

I have never changed a tire before. What a pain in the ass. I wrestled with that friggin tire for 45 minutes before getting it all back together. My hands were covered in grease. Anyway, I got everything set up and put the trainer and my bike in my bedroom. Here's a couple of pics:


(click to enlarge)



(click to enlarge)

This morning before the race I rode the bike and watched about 45 minutes of a MythBusters episode. It was very cool. I kept my cadence at around 75. I was pretty sweaty at the end. I really liked being able to watch TV while riding and it was nice not having to worry about cars running me down. I also enjoyed not having to find appropriate clothing for riding in 35 degree weather.

After a shower, I suited up for the run with some Silkjohns pants (a former customer, now retired), stretchy wind-breaking pants, a wicking t-shirt, and a micro fleece top. I also put on some running gloves and a wicking skullcap. I was ready for action.

I ate a slice of whole wheat toast with a little bit of peanut butter and 4 blackberries on it. I don't like to eat much before a race. The bike ride got my legs warmed up and got my blood moving. I felt pretty good.

I drove out to Westfield with Mike and met Howard there. We got our free t-shirt and our bibs, stretched a little bit and then headed to the starting line. I set my Forerunner for a 9:30 minute mile, but I didn't really pay too much attention to the "virtual partner". We started out with a 9:00/mile pace and slowly picked up the pace to around 8:30/mile. Howard was moving at this pace the whole time and I had no trouble keeping up. I had a little bit of cramping on my right side, but nothing I couldn't push through. Somewhere around the 3rd mile we lost Mike. I was doing surprisingly well. For the last half mile, I tried to kick it up to 7:30/mile. We had a strong finish. After the race, I felt awesome.

We got some water, gatorade and chicken noodle soup. They had a raffle, so we stood out in the cold for about 30 minutes while they read the results. The prize was $100 cash, so all the runners were standing around in the cold in their sweaty clothes waiting to hear if they won. None of us won the cash, but we did get a $15 coupon for RoadID.com. Wahoo!!

Anyway, I think the pre-run bike ride really helped loosen me up. Also, I think my new sneakers may have helped a little. The guy at the running store in Virginia told me to get a half size bigger than my last pair of sneakers. He said your feet swell when you run. I think he was right because I can remember feeling like I was losing circulation in my feet during a race. I felt fine for the entire run. I think I'm ready for a 10K. Running rules.

My time was 43:52 - this is my first 5 Mile race. This is a better pace at 5 miles than my last 5K. I'm pretty happy with this time.

Westfield 5 Mile Turkey Trot - Bib # 497
Westfield, NJ
November 26, 2005

Overall Place: 398/681
Age Place: 27/42
Gender Place: 283/408
Pace: 8:46

Complete Results

...and I'm Just Getting Started.