Summer Kick-Off 5K Race Report

It was hot and humid this morning in League City and thus, as always, the Summer Kick-Off 5K turned out to be a very aptly named race. I am not looking forward to the next six months of running. My body just doesn’t like it, and I don’t either. But alas, running is what a runner does, and I am a runner. So off I went.

I saw a bunch of my buddies from all over as I wandered around trying to find my chip before the start. There were quite a few BARCers (like Joe) in attendance, as well as some of my fellow BAM triathletes. I saw a few coworkers as well, including Ray, who is a volunteer captain in the League City Fire Department. He and some of the other guys did the 3K walk dressed in all their fire-fighting gear, which I thought was pretty cool but dang they must’ve been hot!

My race went as well as I expected. I’ve been feeling a little off over the past couple days — tired from a busy week at work, and my throat has been feeling weird, and I’m a little congested. Whine, whine, whine.

Anyway, I planned to go out comfortably but I guess I got a little caught up in the start, because mile 1 passed in 9:52. (I didn’t actually realize this until after the race when I looked at my splits. I didn’t look at my watch during the race until I was almost at the end.) I walked for a moment to get some water just past mile 1, and when I started running again I knew I’d have to hold back a little if I wanted to make it to the finish without completely falling apart. I haven’t run much in the heat and humidity yet this year, and I could tell that my body temperature was already rising, and fast. I ended up covering the next two miles in just over 11:00 each and crossing the finish line in 33:13. Not very fast, but not completely awful either. I’m happy. If I can run this pace (10:40ish) for the run portion of next weekend’s Silverlake Tri, I’ll be a happy camper!