Saturday In The Park

This past Saturday was not any ordinary Saturday to the SFRunner.  It was a morning to see if there's anything left in the legs, knees, heart and desire. 

A few days ago, this runner registered for the Rexcona 10 Mile Event in Makati City, Philippines.  Normally, this is mot a big deal but the 5K has a cutoff time limit of one hour (12 minutes a kilometer or 19 minutes, 31 seconds per mile).

Up until the last couple of years, this runner was never concerned about stuff like this.  Before the injuries hit, I was running seven to eight minutes per kilometer or 11-12 minute miles.  Since these days, it's been mostly power walking with an occasional jog, the margin for error is very short.

Last Sunday, on a course that had numerous signal lights and stop signs the first three kilometers or about two miles, the walk was around 61 minutes with the watch running.  Definitely, it was a disappointment because the last three kilometers, this runner worked hard.  The effort was good but not good enough.

On Saturday, it was definitely different.  There were two intersections on the 5K course in Golden Gate Park.  There were a couple of small hills but mostly level to downhill.  The time was four and one half minutes faster (56 minutes, 33 seconds), definitely exceptional compared to last Sunday.  There were cyclists, runners and walkers on the course but were never an issue.  It was good to see runners from my last club, Excelsior, along with a number of high school runners from University out there on a pleasant morning.  The weather was overcast and cool which is normal for August.

Tomorrow, I plan to jog a bit on the uphills of the Mountain Lake 5K course that is sponsored by the Dolphin South End Runners.  Certainly, this person would rather run the Makati City event, but needs to have a backup plan in case the running part doesn't fall through.  The muscle above the left knee is still not where it should be and am not confident at this point of pushing this much.

The good news is that there are still three weeks to go in preparation for the event (with two weeks to go here in The City).  Going home on the 31 MUNI, the effort was successful.