The Streak Ends

That's it. It's over. My long streak of not posting is finally coming to an end.

Actually, there's one more streak that ended this weekend, as well -- my streak of PR's in every single race.

Ever since I started back running after my injuries, I've been getting faster and faster.

I started back in March with the Gate River Run 15K. Of course, since I'd never run a 15K before, that became my PR (which I should be able to beat quite handily next time I run one).

I followed that up with a performance in April at the Citistreet Corporate 5K, where I came in at 28:xx (wasn't chip timed, and I don't rightly recall what my actual time was), and that was the gun time. My Garmin had me at 27:xx. It was a good race.

Then, in May, I went down to Orlando for the Go Red For Women 5K. Great race, except for pulling a muscle in my calf. I managed to run most of it, and I ended up doing remarkably well. I finished in 26:48.

After that, in June, was the OE&S Run for the Pies here in Jacksonville. And even with the horrible food and the day at the beach before the race, the competition managed to spur me onto my best performance to date: 25:35!

And, of course, there was the Peachtree on the 4th of July, which had to be a PR, since it had been a long time since I'd done a 10K, and I got hurt doing that one, so the 1:01:37 that I timed myself at will stand as my PR there.

So last week, I realized that fitting right into my training was the JDR Bridge Run here in Jacksonville. As a matter of fact, I had PR'd at this race last year -- and it was the first 5K I had ever done in less than 30 minutes. So, I felt pretty good about it. I still threw a 3.5 mile run in the morning to try to keep my mileage at something, and I was nursing the nastiest blister I've ever had, thanks to a combination of new inserts and 14 miles, but there I was, at the starting line, ready to run for 3.1 miles straight, and go over two large bridges -- one of which has that nasty metal grating across the center span, and the other one being much larger.

And I did it. The first mile felt great, as is evidenced by the fact that I finished it in just over 8 minutes. Holy crap -- last year, I did that first mile in 9:30! I love being able to actually *see* accomplishments. Of course, as I started going up the first bridge, things slowed down a bit, and when I got to that nasty grating, I *really* slowed down. I've got a totally rational fear of falling on that stuff, especially after this year's Gate River Run. But once I got off the grating, I picked up a lot of speed on the downhill side, grabbed some water, and got ready for the second bridge.

Oh, boy, is that bridge bigger. It's not nearly so intimidating as it was last year, since this is now one of my training bridges... in fact, I've done this exact run many times now, so really, it's just a matter of powering to the top. And I was doing OK -- the Garmin said that I finished mile 2 in something like 16:40, and that was before I reached the top of the bridge... but it was also well before I got to the two mile sign, so I must have been weaving in and out of the crowds. No matter, I was still doing pretty well, and I had the whole downside of the bridge to go.

So once I crest the bridge, I start hoofing it. And I'm passing people, and running like the wind, and I'm feeling pretty good. And then I got to the bottom of the bridge and realized that the rest of the way (about half a mile) was pretty much up a gentle slope. Still, not something my legs wanted to do at that particular moment. I hit the three mile sign just as it hit 25:00, but I was getting tired. I ran into the finish, saw Lana playing around on her phone, yelled at her to pay attention, and came in for a strong finish.

Chip time: 25:56. Not a PR, but not a bad performance, either. And the Run for the Pies has a *very* quick course. So I still felt really good about only be 21 seconds off.

Jacksonville running is fun.