5 Quick Things Post-5K

• FIRST: My age group placement:

I was pretty happy with my 17:23 2nd-fastest-5K at the Brian Kraft 5K on Monday. I was hoping for between 17:00 and 17:30 (with my 2-year-old PR being 17:11), so I can't complain. But as I noted in my race report yesterday, I'm impressed / disappointed / amazed / put-in-my-place by being right in the middle of my age group. I was 24th out of 52 in the 30-39 age group. There are some CRAZY fast runners that show up to this race! Of the 292 male racers, 8 were under 15:00, and 37 were under 16:00!

And there were EIGHT "State Age Group Records" broke at this 5K. CLICK HERE to read about those at the bottom of my Examiner article about the race.


• SECOND: Jeremy has it figured out:

My former student Jeremy is doing many of these races with me because I convinced him to sign up for the MDRA "Grand Prix" before the Human Race 8K in March. If you remember, I posted this photo of him 2 weeks ago after he ran a 1:34 half marathon PR (along with the following caption):

"I think Jeremy might be giving Ridiculously Photogenic Guy a run for his money...."

Well, Jeremy's not running as much as he'd hoped - he's working through some knee issues. But he had built a solid base of a lot of miles before the injury happened. And he's set back-to-back PRs at the New Prague Half Marathon and the Brian Kraft 5K even though he's injured. He's found out what I just realized a year or 2 ago: running MORE leads to faster running. It seems obvious. But I found that even more EASY running will help you run faster. I was a skeptic, but it's totally true. I logged SO many "easy" miles while pushing Henry in the stroller over the last few months, and that's what really helped me nail a surprising 2-minute PR at the New Prague Half Marathon.

Good luck with the running, Jeremy! Have a great race at Grandma's Marathon!


• THIRD: Quick heel update:

Remember how I said I was smart by not racing the Albert Lea Triathlon 10 days ago? Well I'm glad I did that. My heel has been a little achy since the half marathon 2+ weeks ago, and I've been wearing my "night splint" most nights - not because I feel that I NEED to, but just to be safe. My heel felt A-OK throughout the 5K, and it just felt a little "stressed" later that day and the day after. I'll wear the night splint all week, but I think everything is in decent shape!


• FOURTH: Two races this weekend:

On Saturday, I'll be racing "Hillfest," which is a bike race just across the river in Wisconsin. (Click here for a little more on the race, and use the code "Ilovehillfest" [without the quotes] to save 10% if you want to register!) I'll be doing the shortest race: the 25K. Should be a good little pain-fest!

Then on Sunday, my wife will be racing the Buffalo Sprint Triathlon. She noted in her last blog post that she wants to try different races this year, so this is one of them! I'm planning on being there to cheer with Henry!


• FIFTH: Upcoming fun stuff:

So expect a report from "Hillfest" early next week, a post full of photos of my wife racing Buffalo a little later next week, and then possibly a giveaway from a company that starts with "Camel" and ends with "Bak." (You figure it out.) So stay tuned next week for lots of good stuff!

Happy 4-day work week!