Reverse Race

I have never heard of such an activity until this morning...

We met at Fleet Feet on Erin Drive this morning at 8am for our group run. We were scheduled for 6 miles to be followed by the shoe & gear clinic at the store. The group leader then says we have to be back at the shop by 9am, so we are going to have a reverse race. We were going to run for 50 minutes total regardless of distance. When you reach the 25 minute point, you were to turn around and go back. The goal is to complete the return in 25 minutes or less. So, sometimes, the slower runners finish first because they may not have gone as far a distance as the faster runners. I still contend I am not focusing on speed or time. Just forward movement in a vertical fashion.

So off we go....

We left from the parking lot on Erin Drive and cut down William Arnold Drive to Mendenhall. Left at Folk's Folly onto Mendenhall. Down Mendenhall to Sanderlin. Left at the Racquet Club on Sanderlin to White Station. Down White Station to Shady Grove. Right on Shady Grove. I almost made it to Yates when the 25 minute mark occured so I made a U-turn and headed back.

For this race, I set my Nike+iPod to 'time' instead of distance. So my ol' buddy Nike Voice Man told me "10 minutes completed...15 minutes completed...etc." On the way back, I had just rounded the corner at Folk's Folly when Nike Voice Man told me I had 3 minutes so I really kicked it in gear and made it back to the finish line with a minute to spare! A real runner would say that I 'shaved a minute off my split time'. I just said thank goodness I didn't experience any cardiac arrest on White Station. Boy there was a lot of traffic....

My total distance today was 3.62. I'm a bit disappointed that we didn't do the scheduled 6 because next Saturday poses a big challenge to go from 4 miles to 7 or whatever is scheduled. But, I completed today's task which was to make it back in the total 50 minutes. And I did that.

Calves a bit tight, but pretty tolerable.

Weather was nice. Pretty morning. I only got a bit toasty toward the end. Minimal layers today. I remembered my sunglasses and was glad I did.

Music that kept me moving today was 'Paralyzer' by Finger Eleven (love that song), 'Are You Gonna Be My Girl' by JET (really love that song), a little Prince and some Justin Timberlake.

Progress made:
Completed the reverse race. I finished in the middle of the pack. Nice feeling.
Total money raised so far is $1426! That's awesome! Thanks y'all!

Lesson learned:
Slow and steady may not win the race, but it will get you across the finish line.