3 Days, 3 Races

Besides last week's Red Dress edition of the Crystal City 5K Fridays, this weekend was the big one circled on my calendar. The reason being? 3 5Ks in 3 days.

Crystal City 5K Fridays #5 - Arlington, VA

The final race of this year's series. I was actually honored to be asked by a friend to pace a friend of hers. For this tall guy who doesn't use his legs to their full potential, this was quite the honor. The race worked out perfectly in reaching her target mile pace and keeping me from going nuts after the previous week's, record setting for year, run. That and my other friends, Randi, Sarah, and Jenny fulfilling their end of a deal and coming out for their first ever races!
Finish Time: 28:19 hh:mm


With Randi, Jenny, & Sarah.

Earth Day 5K - Silver Spring, MD

My first race in Maryland, and the first time running this event. Start time a little over 12 hours after finishing the above race, though great weather was waiting for us. Oh, and a beautiful course was to be found, with some street and a little paved trail action complete with babbling brook (the silver spring perhaps?). A bit hilly though, and one always have to remember that if you go down hills at the start of a race, you will have to go back up them to finish!
Finish Time: 26:36

Race for Hope - Washington, D.C.

Can you believe that in my second stint of living here in the DC Metro area, that this is my first proper race in the District? Anyways, going into this race and knowing my schedule beforehand, I pictured a slow(er) one than normal. A thing happened on the way to the finish line, and that was a hefty dose of motivation. You see, I was a member of Team BT, in honor of one my fellow Pacers Ambassadors, BethAnn, who is a brain tumor survivor. The team is sponsored in part by Pacers, so it was really cool to get a tech tee just for our team (not to mention a very nice goody bag and tent to meet at on race day). Regardless, today was less about those extras and more about heart...

Motivation came before we even started as all the survivors of this terrible "affliction" walked to the start line wearing yellow and carrying the same color balloons. I spent the next 10 minutes clapping non-stop as they paraded past. Then the race started, and that's when I felt the fatigue of the weekend's previous foot action setting in. Then about 2 minutes in I decided that I needed to show at least the same heart of the champion of those that I had clapped for just a few minutes earlier. It was to be a record setting day for Mikey, no matter how tired I felt...and it was. I finished today's race with with is my best time in over 2 years. Go Team BT!
Finish Time: 24:20


Me with BethAnn at the end of the race.

Bonus shot from last week's red dress: