Thanks to LSD….

Yesterday on September 11, 2010, The VOICES Club showed up in full force. Seems fitting that our BEST 5k performance would occur on this date. The race was held in Seymour, MO at the town’s annual Apple Festival. It is a great little race because it is FLAT and FAST- I have been every year except once for the last 5 years. It draws a small crowd but grows a little each year.

I fit this race in as part of my everyday running with the thought that it would be fun and a good way to squeeze in some speed work. Speed work. I HATE that stuff and it is a very RARE occasion that you will catch me at the track running Yasso 800’s or some other variation of KILL YOURSELF repeats. I just don’t care for it or I’m not willing to work that HARD- both of these are probably true. My friend, Charley, and I had decided that we would run the 5k and then run afterwards to make it a combination speed- long run day. His training schedule called for a 20 miler and mine called for…..uhhhh….. whatever, 20 sounded great to me.

We lined up, said a prayer for remembrance and took off. I managed to keep a hard pace (for me) and kept Charley within sight even running with him for the first mile. Significant because he is FAST. I crossed the finish line in 2nd place with a time of 17:07. WOOOOO!!!!!!
WAIT….17:07?? No- that couldn’t be right. It wasn’t. A quick glance at the Garmin showed the course to only measure out at 3 miles instead of 3.1. Bummer. Doing the math- I have calculated the actual 5k time to be 17:48- Still a PR by 30 seconds or more. Of course, some would claim that it is NOT a 5k PR but those people SUCK. I call it a 5k PR. Done. That’s how it is.

Charley and I ended up getting just over 20 miles in for the day- and had a great long run together. This is something we have not been able to do in a while due to schedule conflicts so it was really nice to run with my REAL training partner and friend. Dude knows how to push me when I need it.

Weird. That is how WE explain it. Because of my lack of “expertise” when it comes to all things running, I am confused. There has been ZERO speed work, ZERO training plans, ZERO pressure to improve and ZERO focus on races. Oh well, no need to think to much about it- that just ruins the fun. The VOICES have explained in very simple terms that even a dummy like me can understand. A whole bunch of LSD can really speed a guy up. (no drug test required)