{"id":455,"date":"2015-10-18T14:34:36","date_gmt":"2015-10-18T19:34:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gilcanrun.com\/?p=455"},"modified":"2015-10-18T14:34:36","modified_gmt":"2015-10-18T19:34:36","slug":"so-close-but-not-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gilcanrun.com\/?p=455","title":{"rendered":"So close, but not enough"},"content":{"rendered":"

So, in keeping with being really fast for the past month or so, I participated in the Trumbull Great Pumpkin Classic 5k today<\/a>. Now, there it says 22:48, and I was a couple seconds off with turning the watch off. Net time 22:45.9<\/a>, which is really good, and very fast for me. My 5k PR is 22:37, which I achieved last year at the Fairfield 5k. Although I brought a hat and gloves, I didn’t bring my gaiter, or an extra layer. If I had, I probably could have beat my PR. Which, considering I haven’t been running competitive 5ks this year, is pretty damned good. But I truly could not get my chest to expand enough to take in enough air, it was too cold and my muscles did not want to let me breathe. I did end up having an asthma attack, I held it off until the end of the race though. I started coughing really bad once I crossed the finish line. I was not the only one.
\nI am encouraged that I was able to be so fast, when I have only run 1 other 5k in 2015, and only one more, a total of 3, in the past calendar year. That’s not a lot of 5ks, and so racing at this distance is a little uncomfortable for me. But I have another chance, November 1st is Platt Tech, and that’s a flatter course, and hopefully it won’t be so cold, and then there’s Christopher Martin’s the day after I run a marathon, and that’s a super-flat course, that I run all the time anyway, well parts of it. the downside there is, I am running a marathon the day prior.
\nWhat was really nice was seeing the club, and all sorts of fun people I haven’t gotten to run with and see most of this year. Even some of the folks I run a lot of marathons with were there. Which was surprising. Speaking of which, what I missed out on today was the 86th edition of the Yonkers Marathon. It is the 2nd oldest marathon in the United States. This year it had a new course. I saw some good times from some of my friends who ran it, so that’s good. I had fun in Yonkers last year in the first half, the second half of the race was brutal after an 8 minute break in between. That was the race where my stomach decided it didn’t like Gu anymore. I will run it again, but this year I needed to take it easy. I knew I was going to start to get tired this time of year, and I think I have been well served, and will be happy that I only have 2 marathons left this year.
\nBut back to Trumbull, it was a decent course, uphill almost the first full mile. then you come down gradually for about 3\/4s of a mile, the rest just rolls. It really was a matter of breathing, I just could never catch my breath. So if I am around next year, this will be another one to run in. Plus, there were tons of giveaways. Full bottles of SPF 30 Sport and SPF 50 sunblock, a 3 pack of Bic disposable razors, a pack of tropical scented (what is tropical scent? I don’t know!) Wet Ones wipes, a long sleeve tech tee, a water bottle, a hot beverage mug, and of course a medal, and some coupons I haven’t looked at thrown in the bag, oh and the bag could be used as a shopping bag. Truly an impressive amount of swag. But given that Trumbull is the home of Unilever and Bic, not totally surprising. Bic may actually be in Milford, but either way, it’s all local. I do have one complaint about the race, they ran out of coffee way too quickly. I got one cup, chatted with my friends for a bit, went to get another cup and they were out! Definitely need more coffee.
\nSo that brings my weekend to an end, a successful failure, like Apollo 13. Another day all about running. Oh we can’t have that, New Zealand stomped on France in the Rugby World Cup Quarterfinal, largest margin of victory in a QF match ever, 62-13. Ireland lost to Argentina today, and Australia squeezed past Scotland. So next weekend will be NZ v South Africa, and Argentina v Australia. I want a New Zealand v Argentina final, but as long as New Zealand make it I’m happy. Not that Argentina should be that much easier, but psychologically it should be easier. Australia is the only team that’s beat NZ all year.
\nWith that, I bid you all to have fun, keep running and remember, if Gil can run, then so can you!<\/p>\n

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