If I was home in Little Rock (CONUS), the Fourth of July, I would have run the Firecracker Fast 5K. It’s an awesome race with a good portion run down hill, which who wouldn’t love that. Downhill or not, it’s a great event, well supported in its 26th year (I think), in which a lot of the local runners come out and participate. I have run it several times – I really love it. I do confess to really loving the 5Ks during the summer months. As it so happens, I am not home today, but the Army is good at acknowledging holidays even in Iraq and even though the mission is every single day.
It took some doing but I found a 4th of July 4 Miler being run here on good ole COB Adder. Someone just about dropped the ball on putting information out about this race but we figured it out all the same. I don’t think I have ever really run a 4 miler fun run, but I am down with about any halfway organized run, all I need is a good night’s sleep. Which no doubt never happens for me, but I was determined to sleep before this one. So I had a plan… I turned my lights out, TV off early and went to bed – not so much. What do I do, toss and turn all night. I don’t sleep well the night before a race to begin with and in a combat zone, I apparently do not sleep well either; so combine those two factors and I basically lay in bed all night desperately seeking R.E.M. sleep. With 3 alarms set I stayed in there on my back, side, or stomach until about 5:20 a.m. when my watches and clock all started to chime. I got up and out about 10 minutes later, and with my buddy Joel in tow headed to the starting line. Considering it wasn’t very well advertised, we had a good turnout of runners.
The race began promptly at 6 a.m. and the weather was perfect. I lined up in the back of the pack, tired and unmotivated. The mass of service members in PT uniforms each with a reflective belt around the waist began to inch forward, somewhere instinct must have just kicked in. I fought my way to the left side of the road. I was out of the pack, and finally able to stretch it a minute. Then my body took over. Just past the first quarter-mile-maker the road opened up. I knew I wasn’t going to set a PR today, but I knew I came to run too. I crossed mile one marker in just over 7 minutes. My little voice was telling me to run a 10-miler pace, or what I envision my marathon pacing should be. Anyway, I am feeling great at this point, mile one, and by mile two I was in the groove.
This was a there and back. I took water at mile 2, turned for the return stretch, and pushed on just under 15 minutes. Mile 3 hit at about 22:30. My 5K is in the 21s but I wasn’t running my 5000 pace today. My plan before the race was to pick it up at 3.5 miles but instead I remained steady to my pace, listened to the little voice, and finished the run in just under 30 minutes. This is clock time not chip time. There were no numbers, no bibs, no t-shirts, and even no Gatorade or oranges at the end. Just a guy with a watch calling out times and those orange Igloo coolers with the white spout filled with cool, cool water.
This is my logic: it is all about pace. I can run the 10 miler in 1 hour 15 minutes. With that being said it stands to reason the 20 miler in 2 hours and 30 minutes, the 24 mile marker at 3 hours and maybe 26.2 in 3:15 – I realize this is shaving almost 25 minutes off my PR in the marathon which is huge, but shit you got to have dreams especially over here. Some people dream about all kinds of things to do or buy after a deployment – I just want to run Boston (for real this time).
Personally I loved running the 4 miler, July 4, 2008, on COB Adder, but with any luck next year I will have laid this bog to rest and will be setting a PR in the 5,000 meter – CONUS (Continental United States).
Admin Footnote: It is out nation’s 232nd birthday. The Air Force Sponsored a 4 mile MWR run on COB Adder. Service members from the Air Force, Army, and Navy participated. All were done, headed to the showers by 6:45 a.m. and putting the respective service uniforms on shortly thereafter. Those of who didn’t just get off work headed to do whatever job the military requires them to do. I ask the few who reads this to remember what history tells us happened on July 4, 1776, and those people, a lot them just kids, who everyday actively defend that Declaration, the Constitution and the ratified amendments therein.
Filed under: Running
I personally hope you can be blogging from the States by this time next year. I was thinking about you on July 4th and wondering what you were doing to celebrate it. Thank you, really, for being over there, and helping the rest of us to have the 4th of July that you remember having.
And about shaving the 25 minutes off of the marathon, you CAN do it. My brother did it in the past, it just took hard work, which is something not new at all to you.
Take care of yourself and stay safe, please. And tell your friends over there that many of us back home are very grateful to all of you.
Just under 30 minutes for 4 miles – that’s fast!!
Very nice!!
I saw that 5k for the first time this year…it was fun to watch! I happened to be doing my long run that day on Kavanaugh..that downhill is crazy! What do you think of the Catholic High Rocket 5k?