BRATS T.A.P.S. 5k

Last week I ran the Veteran's Day 5k and felt pretty decent and ended up with a low 22 min 5k.  Horrible any other time but since I haven't ran much all year, I was happy with it.  The whole week I was dealing with a sinus infection that just seemed to never get any better.  Went on to the doctors on 11/11/2015 and they gave me a bunch of medicine that I probably didn't need as the infection was on its way out.  I ran two miles on Tuesday and then 4 on Thursday.  After the 4 miler on Thursday, I felt my left hammy tighten up during the run.  Of course, I finished the run but on Friday knew it was a little more sore than usual.  Both were tight as were my glutes so I did some yoga with Heather and then stretched some more, rolled and did the stick.  It started to feel better but the next day I was supposed to run the TAPS 5k with the family.  So I woke up, took a hot shower and hoped it would feel better.  Didn't.  Hmm, ok, let me get the clothes on and see how I feel when I get there.  Of course, it was about 40F with 15-20 mph winds which made my hammy feel like shit.  I decided I would warm up and it felt ok enough to run but not run hard.

The race was at the Holy Trinity Church in Gainesville, VA so we go there around 0730 for an 0830 race.  Went inside to packet pickup, bib'd up and started to see if I could run.  It felt tight at first but started to loosen up which made me feel better.  I ran about a mile just to get loose and walk down to the start which was behind the church.  The RD said we would have to wait 10 or so minutes b/c the paving company was paving a road on our course.  Meanwhile, the wind is whipping pretty good I am freezing my ass of.  Finally, after ducking in and out of the church to stay warm, he announces he is going to start the race.  He says GO and we are off, of course half the kids are out of the gate like Usain Bolt up a nice incline.  I hold back hoping I don't feel any pain in my hammy and I don't which is good.  We make the turn onto the road by the church and its a straight shot to Wellington which is about 1 mile away.  The first mile had us running directly into the 20mph wind and it was like, fuck are you serious.  The time for the first mile was 7:11 and the hammy wasn't feeling great but not hurting, the second mile had us run up Wellington to turn around and then come back to the Church.  The second mile for me was a 7:13, still shitty.  Somehow, I ran a negative split third mile with a time of 6:42 for a time of 22:13.  The results had me down for a 6:51 pace which means the course had to be 3.24 miles long yet I didn't have that.  Whatever.  The last mile, I was behind the master's winner and could of caught him however, I told myself not to run hard as it may injure my hamstring even more and so I ended up 7th overall and 1st in my AG (40-44).  Of course, Nic won his age group which was the 10 and under crowd with a time of 24:33 and Zach came in 3rd in the 11/12 group with a time of 24:59.  Not bad for the boys.  Heather got a 25:04 but this was a tempo run for her and knows she could of ran harder.  Her A race is in about 2 weeks so we will see if she can get a PR.  Me, I am going to rest the hamstring for 2-3 days and see how it feels for a small run Wednesday or Thursday.  If it feels ok, I should be ok to run the Thanksgiving race on the 26th of November - we will see.

Below are some pics of us at the award ceremony afterwords:

Me, receiving the 1st place aware for the 40-44 males.

Nic receiving the 1st place award for the 10 and under boys.

Zach, for receiving 3rd place for the 11/12 males.

Hopefully the hammy is just a tad strained and will see how it feels in a few days.