Pounding the Pavement

On Saturday I felt something I have not felt in a long time... I felt like a runner. Unfortunately, it didn't last long. Allow me to paint the picture for you. Saturday morning was the 6th annual Pound the Pavement 5k. Mrs. Zimm and I arrived early because she is currently training for the Indy Women's Half Marathon and was scheduled to run 9 miles on Saturday. We decided to run three miles before the race, run the race, and then an additional three miles to reach her mileage goal. As usual we were pushing it pretty close to the start of the race. I ended up having to run to the start with just moments to spare. It was when I ran across the field to the start where everything felt great. I was warmed up, nothing hurt, and felt as if I could run forever.

After the gun went off I made a conscious effort to go out slow because I knew that I could not maintain a fast pace. Prior to the race I had only ran two or three miles at 7:00 pace and each of those were at the end of training runs. My first mile went well. I was out in 6:50, my fastest mile in quite some time, and was feeling pretty good. I even have proof of how well I felt. Check out this picture taken by Jamie Sangar. My second mile was a little slower, 7:08. However, I did improve my position and manged to pass the lead pack of four girls. Going into the third mile I tried to wait as long as I could before I picked up the pace to surge into the finish. I continued to move up, passing two or three people. My split was 6:50, but I was not feeling quite as good as I was before mile one. I finished up the last point one and had a finishing time of 21:32 which is an average pace of 6:56. I then met up with Mrs. Zimm at the finish and ran three more miles with her. Let me clarify, she ran three more miles and I walked/ran with her. She did a lot more running than I did. See Mrs. Zimm celebrate her 9 mile run with Boomer.

Pound the Pavement is a race in memory of my brother-in-law Kyle's father, Kevin. It is more than a race, it is an event. Before the race there is a health fair where medical professionals administer cholesterol screenings and blood pressure checks. The health fair is open to all participants and the general public. On top of the 5k race there is also a one mile dog walk and stroller strut. After the race there are countless door prizes, last year I won a gift card to Ricker's. The awards are always cool, from what I can remember in the past they have had; nalgene bottles, gym bags, and blankets which are much better than medals, plaques, or trophies that just collect dust. The shirts are not your typical road race shirt. Basically, PTP is awesome! I encourage everyone to run it next year. Congratulations to Jamie, Jessica, Jan, Kyle, and the rest of the PTP volunteers for putting on the best 5k race I have ever ran.

My training last week.
Monday: 5 miles
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: 5 miles
Thursday: 1 mile with Mrs. Zimm
Friday: 5 miles
Saturday: 9 miles (3 miles w/Mrs. Zimm, the race, 3 miles w/Mrs. Zimm)
Sunday: off

This week I will keep better track of my miles and times so I can give you a more detailed training log next week. Also, I made some changed to the format and them of the blog so let me know how you like (or don't like) the new format.