Race Report

Yes, a race report. I ran in the Temple Beth El 5k, which is run at the temple of the same name, about a mile and a half from my house. I had a visit with my cardiologist a short time before the race, and he said that I should be OK, as long as I "don't try to win." I told my youngest brother about his advice. He didn't believe that I could run in the race without trying to win. He was at least partly right.

Since the race was so close to my house, I jogged up to the start for my warmup. As it was my first race since my "event," I was more than a little bit nervous about racing.

On the advice of my cardiologist, I was keeping my heart rate below 150, during training runs and now during the race. As I approached the half mile point, my wife, who was standing near the road, called out "Don't win!" I imagine this caused some amusement and confusion among the people around me. First because I was not that close to the front; the winner finished the race in 5:04 pace, while my pace was closer to 7:30. Second, because who cheers for someone not to win?

The whole course is on roads, in the area around the temple, with the finish line in the temple parking lot. About the first half mile is a gradual uphill, then it's downhill to just about the mile point. When I reached the mile point, I got my mile split of just under 7:00 and realised that I was going too fast. Just then, as if to confirm what I was thinking, my heart rate monitor's alarm started going off. I looked down, and my heart rate, just as I was beginning another half-mile climb (this time on a larger, steeper hill) was 154. So, I had to take it easy on the way up the hill. When I reached the two mile point, my heart rate has settled down into the high high 130s, and my split was around 8:30.

Because my heart rate had dropped, I felt confident that I could pick up the pace a bit. From about 1.5 to almost three miles was downhill, so it had been a bit of a rest for my heart and I felt that I could easily take a bit more. I watched my heart rate more closely, checking every few seconds to see how I was doing. I kept it in the 140s, and finished the race in 23:09. An excellent showing for my first race back.

I've been increasing my mileage since then, and I think I can do better than 7:30 pace, and still keep my heart rate at a reasonable level. My doctor and my wife both want me to get a training partner. I joke about not being able to find someone at my level who is CPR certified. The difficulty is actually finding someone who is at my level who is also on my schedule. At the moment, I can't run in the morning. I take four of my five medications in the morning, including the two which keep my heart rate regulated. I suppose I should ask my cardiologist about running first thing in the morning. That might make it easier to find someone who could be there to at least call 911 if something should happen.

Tomorrow morning, I'll be running in my second race since my "event". I'm going to try to update a bit quicker than a month after the fact this time.