Pre-5K Ramblings

This is LB's Year of Races, I can feel it!

On Saturday, I'm running my third race of the year, the Lefty's 5K in Fontana. This race is FREE and will take me on the track at the California Speedway. How is that for double awesomeness?

What might that look like?

Faster than a speeding race car...

Before I get to that, I have to share some news about two other races I've signed up for. On April 18, I will run the Run Through Redlands half marathon for the second consecutive year. Last year, I knocked out my first half-marathon at this event, and now I'm a year older, but a year wiser and more experienced, and I'm salivating over this race. I'm sure I will blog about it quite a bit more as the race approaches.

Also, I signed up for another 10K, the Run For Rescue 10K in Rancho Cucamonga on May 1. I thought that would be a fun event, a cool way to continue adding to my race calendar. I may go for a 10K PR and might try and finish at 49:59 or better. Either way, it should be a cool race, and for a good cause. The proceeds for the race go to the San Bernardino County Sheriff Department's West Valley Search and Rescue Team. Apparently, this race accounts for half of the group's revenue, and the group is a volunteer-only outfit. So, it's for a good cause and all. Now, there is another awesome element to this race that I won't share now but I will let you all know about this eventually, hopefully soon. It's really cool, trust me.

Anyway, my 5K on Saturday poses some interesting situations for me. I haven't quite decided on several of them so I will ponder about them now.

* New PR? I'm wondering if I should go for a PR or not. You race to beat your previous times, right? Well, unless you are Kenyan or some other powerful running specimen, you don't really race to win races, right? I know I don't, and couldn't even if I tried. But the point of race distances you've already ran before is to better your time, right? Isn't that what conventional wisdom says? Maybe, but I am not sure if I want to try and crank out another effort like I did two weeks ago.

Part of me thinks that it would be nice to just run the race at nice and steady pace and soak in the atmosphere. After all, this is a pretty famous track we're going to run on, and what other races offer that? I know I can finish in a good time even if I don't crank out 7-minute miles, so I could just run to have fun and not try and PR.

But part of me is afraid of shooting for the PR and falling far from it. I had a huge incentive to "win" the last race because I raced Danny, and since Danny wasn't man enough, I mean, since he was not available to come out for this race, I won't have him prodding me along the course, trying to finish in as fas as my legs and heart would allow.

Danny served as a great motivator for the last race, and without him around I might not be able to reach as deep and give as much as I did last time.

So I'm stuck here, debating what I want to accomplish in terms of time. Honestly, I think I will end up trying to beat my time but I could be wrong. I'd say right now I'm 60-40 in favor of trying to PR on Saturday. Either way, I'm going to try and not be upset at my time whether I try to PR and fail to do so or just have a nice, easy FREE 5K experience.

* Attire. The last time I raced and did not wear pink was in October at the Ragnar Relay. I will leave my pink Loper shirt at home on Saturday. The main reason why I wore it the last time, aside from supporting the Lopers and displaying my beloved running group's colors for all to see, was to draw motivation, again to try and beat Danny.

With no such motivation necessary this time around, I'm going to leave the shirt at home. I might wear my white Ragnar shirt, the one that says RUNNER on the back. It's a cool shirt. The only problem is that I bled through it in last week's Mt. Rubidoux run. Damn nips. You don't tape them once and that's what you get.

* Last 5K? For awhile anyway, this will be my last 5K. I've realized quite a bit about myself over the last few months, and one thing is that I love running long distances. Five kilometers is not a long distance to me any more. A 5K is all about speed, and despite my 7:26 pace at the ARMC 5K that is not my game. Nor frankly is it my motivation.

Let's face it, I'm not going to qualify for Boston. Ever. And I'm probably not going to win my age group either (though I came close to it last time, woo hoo!). Again, ever. I don't race to try and win races, I race because it gives me something to train for, gives me a chance to show msyelf why I train and allows me the opportunity to participate in memorable experiences, and of course to try and better my time if I can. Right? Or did I just contradict myself from my previous thoughts on time and all that? Ugh...

Anyway, I want to sink my teeth in longer race distances. I'm hoping to run at least one, if not two more marathons in 2010, and at least two half marathons this year as well. I'm not sure if there's room - or money - for any more 5Ks this year.

So I'm going to enjoy this race on Saturday because it might be my last 5K until the next free one comes along.