A friend from the local running club sent out a link to an online store which had a good pair of trail racing flats (running shoes) on clearance for a bargain. What the hell, I’ll always need shoes. So I bought some on impulse. Now I have new shoes.
When the shoes arrived I was reminded of Grandad Freeman’s New Shoes song (from the animated TV show The Boondocks). It’s catchy. Melissa was singing it the rest of the day. It was such a hit that he reprised it as the Soul Plane song in a later episode.
I wore the new shoes for a short run last week and also did some walking in them. Next it was time for the Habitat for Humanity 5k race at Crystal Lake Park last Sunday.
This was the same venue and course (though backwards) as the last 5k two weeks prior. It must have been the new shoes, because I ran over a minute faster for a time of 18:12. Again, I finished 3rd place, but I was very pleased with my time. This was probably the second fastest 5k race I’ve run since college.
Most 5k races have age group awards split up into 5 year or 10 year intervals (e.g. 20-24, 25-29, 30-34, etc, or 20-29, 30-39). Interestingly this race had three age groups: 25 & under, 26-40, 41 & over. This translated roughly to: college students, townies, parents of college students (it was Mom’s weekend at UIUC). I won first place in the townie division, for which I was awarded a sweatshirt. It would have been nice to have been wearing the sweatshirt during the 30 minutes between the race in 36˚ weather and the awards. Oh well.
but for the record, you would never really wear Nikes, or anything made by Nike… would you?
anyway, those new shoes sure must have put some spring in your step. Great job on the 5K, townie.
WAAAAAAY TO GO!!!! CONGRATULATIONS on YET ANOTHER GREAT RACE!!!! WATCH OUT FOR WIRE SNARES,IN THE GRASS!!!! hugs, nan