I Run For the Ice Cream

I know it's been a while.  There hasn't been all that much worth reporting, though.  To be honest, I did not do a single running race all of May.  It was pretty unbelievable when I realized it, but the entire month had come and gone and the only event I did was the Tour de Crim. Sure there was that one awesome trail run where we found the links of the Genesee Trail to the Flint Trail system, but that wasn't organized.  That was just J and I trying to get lost in the woods.

I love the logo

Yesterday was the Diplodash Ice Cream Bash.  I believe this used to be the Retread, so we had to do it.  That and completely undoing your exercise with ice cream is just something that's near and dear to my heart.  The only drawback was they weren't taking old shoes with the soles worn down for that charity that resoles them and gives them to needy people, so I still have 3 pairs of old shoes in my back seat.

I didn't know what to expect.  I haven't had a 5K since March, and that one was pretty slow.  I haven't been able to gain any speed lately, even on short runs, so I didn't have very high expectations.  Time-wise, I was thinking of shooting for a 27:somthing, but mainly I just wanted to go all out and push as hard as I could, for as long as I could, and give it everything I've got.

 

 

When we started, I realized that the race course was also the same as the Retread, and knowing where to go and how long until the next turn or until the race is over can mean a lot.  I saw a few familiar people that I used to try to keep up with before (when I was better), and I though if I could try to keep up with them it would help too.  J blew out in front of me, but I kept some of the familiars close in front of me.

That only lasted about halfway through though, and I started to drop ground to them.  I don't think I was slowing down.  They were just making their second half push, and I was huffing and puffing and already in top gear, so there was nothing I could do.  Just after where the mile 2 marker used to be (no markings this year), I caught J and dragged him along for much of the rest of the race.  He dropped back just behind me with a 1/2 mile to go, and pretty much stayed there about 20-40 feet behind me.  The good thing about that is I probably kept him lined up ahead of some other people in his age group (he's not gone up out of mine), and he got a pretty nice award.

Still love the logo

 

To tell the absolute truth, I don't think I've ever pushed myself harder in a 5K.  I never let off the throttle and I was pushing myself to the point where I was considering doing the unthinkable and stopping to walk in a 5K.  I was just being that hard on myself.  My legs were on fire, my lungs were burning, every breath felt like it just wasn't enough to sustain me for the next one.  I kept thinking to myself that this must be how the real runners push themselves to win races every single time they go out.  I don't think that's something I could ever get used to.

I pulled in with the clock time just above 26 minutes and as soon as I stopped, I wanted to go lay down.  The more dominant feeling, though, was that I felt like I was going to throw up and I even walked, half bent over, away from the finish just in case.  Luckily that passed, I got some water, and then went over to get some ice cream (Mint Chocolate Chip!).

One of my favorites

The run was sponsored, partially, by Baskin Robbins, and they were handing out coupons at the finish and by the YMCA.  I think the universal sentiment was, "Where the heck is there a Baskin Robbins around here."  To be honest, I didn't know we even had one, and I don't think anyone else did either.  Now, mind you, this is also a crowd of running, healthy people, so it's not necessary a representative sample.  The coupons didn't say where they're located, and I still haven't bothered to look.  Also, I think I lost the coupons, but, Baskin Robbins, we'll always have the YMCA...

Thanks Baskin Robbins!

We popped in to check our official times and J age-grouped, as I mentioned.  I came in about 7th with a 25:55, which fits in as my 3rd best 5K of all time (I'll take it!).  I'm hoping this will get me going a bit with the speed.  I've been trying to work some tempo runs in, but I think what will help most is just getting some more distance.  It's been a little rougher this year with me being the pushy one, but I think we'll get there.  I've also dropped about 10 pounds in the last two months, and kept it off.  My wife is on this healthy kick and stopped bringing junk into the house.  That makes things a lot easier.  Although, I will admit I did bring in some Hostess substitutes this week because I miss the Twinkie.  I couldn't help it.  I give myself some credit for not deep frying any (yet).

We popped downtown for a bit for some beer.  We went to the Torch and had a Short's Huma, and I followed that up with an Arcadia Whitsun.  Then we went over to The Loft and shared a $10 pitcher of Fat Tire (and that was a big pitcher...almost 5 pints worth).  There was a lot of talk of old memories and laughing there.  That and we were watching this guy who some birthday girl in a nice dress was talking to (instead of her friends), and were rooting for him to successfully complete the process.  Tall, weird-looking dude, I hope you at least got her number.

I've got Flirt With Dirt tomorrow, which I almost forgot about, because I thought it was July 8th, not June 8th.  J was going to join, but it is "Sold Out," so I guess I'm going alone.  We'll see how that goes.  I've never really done a 10K on trail before, so how to pace that out will be interesting.  Either way, it's an auto-PR. 

I'm open to suggestions on where to go around that area.  I haven't been down to bars in Novi in years and it was always in that strip-mall sorta place with the Post Bar and the Irish place (and The Library Bar across the street).