Tulsa United Way Trailblazer 5K Race Report

Friday night was the United Way Trailblazer 5K. The course starts at 6th & Peoria at Centennial Park and heads into downtown for a very challenging course. I ran the race last year and did not do well as I was suffering from a bad case of plantar fasciitis. I forgot how hilly the course was and suffered for it. I signed up for the race because the bank where I work is part of the big fundraising drive the United Way has during this month. I do not know why I keep signing up for these 5K's, but I do. Once I finish I always say I am not going to do another one. This one was no exception.

To even do the race I had to leave work, run the race, and then go back to work. So I ended up rushing around to get home and then downtown. All 3 kids were also running, Will & Wyatt in the 5K and Shannon in the mile fun run. Because of all the rushing around, we forgot the camera, so no pictures.

The temperature was pretty warm, the humidity was not bad, but it is still Oklahoma in August. I ran the one mile fun run with my daughter at 7 pm and then did some accelerations to stay loose and hopefully engage some fast twitch muscle fibers. It looked like the usual suspects were there, Mark Dolph, Tom Lam, Clay Mayes, etc. Our race started at 7:30 pm and immediately goes uphill. Once I got going in the race, I remembered how hilly it was. After the first hill it levels off and then goes uphill again. We then make a right, then a left, then a right, and then a 180 around a cone. Not the best race for a PR. We then do an out and back on Boulder which is a series of rolling hills and then another 180 followed by a right hand turn and then back to finish. I felt OK during the beginning, but I did not have the normal speed I have had earlier in the year. My speed legs have not been there since Leadville. I think it took more out of me than I thought.

Once again there was no split callers and the only mark in the road I saw was at 4K. It is not that it could have made me run any faster, but gives me a good indication on how hard I am hammering it. By the time I got to 4K, I just wanted to get it over with. I did manage a 4:04 last K, but I do not know how my other splits were. I managed a 20:16, nothing stellar, but pretty darn good for this course. Will was just under 30 and Wyatt was just over 30. The most impressive thing was that my former boss and co-worker came out and walked the whole thing and finished around 57 minutes. I really hope this sparked a new interest in her and she will come back for more.

Overall, not a bad day. I got outside, got some exercise, and spent some time with friends and family. After all, that is what it all about. Results can be found here.