Pain serves a worthy purpose

Pain by itself is merely pain, but the experience of pain coupled with an understanding that the pain serves a worthy purpose is suffering. Suffering can be endured because there is a reason for it that is worth the effort. - Gary Zuvak

This morning was the annual Ras na hEireann 5K race. It has at least doubled in size this year with 5,000 registered runners. I swear, it was only 2,000 last year, but perhaps I'm wrong. They shifted the start line to Highland this year rather than Somerville Ave outside The Burren.

I ran a PR, barely. Not exactly the pace I had been aiming for. I was hoping to run between an 8:00-8:15 min/mile. Instead, I ran 8:40min/mile, coming in with a chip time of 26:55. The reasons behind my failure were twofold.

(1) I pushed too hard, too soon. I set myself up at the 8 min/mile mark. With the 8 minute racers. So I hit the first mile at 8:10min. And that's almost exclusively uphill. I felt my speed drop off after that. I knew it was going to be bad when I was over 17 minutes in at the 2nd mile marker. There was no way to make up that time.

(2) Yesterday's run hit me full force around the 2nd mile. My quads started to ache - the way they ache I'm around 9-10 miles into a long run. I didn't give my legs enough time to rest between the long easy run yesterday and the hard, fast short run today. That was a mistake that wore me down after the first kick.

The weather was around 56 degrees, I believe. A light wind, but then again, that might have just been the breeze created by the 1,000 or so runners ahead of me. Very sunny, warm. I wore a long-sleeve wicked shirt under my cottom race-t-shirt, along with a pair of knee-length tights. It was hot. As I walked there, I was trying to figure out a way to publicly remove the long sleeve t-shirt from under the short sleeve in public. I never came up with a plan before the race started.

Anyway, it was a festive atmosphere. There was an adorable beagle with his owners standing nearby me in the starting crowd. The little guy was super excited and just kept howling endlessly, incessantly in that way only beagles can manage. As soon as the race started, he and his dad took off. I swear, that beagle was literally pulling along the owner - and he was no slow runner. I have a blurry photo of it.
The adorable, howling, racing beagle.

Statistics:
Fillies: 31/171
Overall: 1448/4151

Everyone got their finisher's medal, which was adorable this year with a built-in bottle opener. Running and drinking really is the theme of the race. It ends at a variety of local pubs. You buy the beer, but theoretically some of the bars have food. The awards are presented at The Burren, which along the the other big nearby pubs had lines headed down the street within ten minutes of my personal finish.
Post-race line outside The Burren

Post-race line outside Joshua Tree

There were lots of fun, spirited outfits running the race, but a couple of these guys really stood out. Oh and did I mention The Bear who was lined up in the 6-7min/mile pace? Holy. He ran that in a bear suit! He was way far ahead of me by the end.
The Bear, chillin' in the crowd, like any other runners.

Look closely at this crowd, what's missing?

A patriotic hair-do