So Far, So Good

I had a couple good tests of the ankle this week. Wednesday evening was the first one. I ran 5 miles on the track and the ankle didn't give me any problems at all. Mile splits were 7:12, 6:38, 6:30, 7:05, and 6:52 for an overall average 6:51 pace. It was a pretty warm and humid evening, so I was really happy with this workout (81°F). I skipped Thursday's run and I ended up missing Friday's run.

Today (Saturday) was another local 5K. It was a very warm sunny morning with no wind at all. This race was up in West Columbia, about 15 miles from where I live. I was a little late getting there, and when I did arrive I didn't see anyone near the starting line. I continued down the course a little to see if they'd moved the registration area. There were many cars at another park down the road but they were all there for a swim meet. I went back up to the start and finally saw where everyone was. About the same time I had a call from the power plant about one of my pumps. I finished the call in the parking lot, grabbed my checkbook and ran to the registration area. After I registered, I noticed I didn't have my keys with me. Sure enough they were still in my locked car. Duh

The race went a lot better. I was ready to back off as soon as my ankle didn't feel right, but I ran the whole race with both ankles feeling great. I was able to run with another guy for almost the whole race, so that helped me quite a bit. I passed him near the end of the 2nd mile and thought I had him, but he caught me and kicked it in from about the 3 mile point. He deserved to beat me, he set the paace for most of the race and had a strong finish. I really didn't expect anything today, so I was pretty happy to break 19 minutes.

Here's a story from the local paper.

I was going to take some pictures, but with my camera locked in the car...
I did win an obscenely large trophy. My wife says I should put some glass over it and use it as a coffee table.

The trophy and the finally unlocked car: