Ups & downs

This weekend featured a series of ups and downs.

Saturday agenda-AVDA 5k

This was held in Delray beach so this was quite a trip for me (down). This was a charity race & its purpose is Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse (Inc). I decided to this one as a tune-up race for the main event (Sunday agenda) so I originally planned to run comfortably & possibly win the master's title. A teammate (DK) asked that we run a 6 minute pace for 2 miles then after that, do whatever I want. My goal is always to break 19, but if I am feeling good & conditions are right, I can go to low to mid 19. I followed the script (mile 1=6:02 & 2=12:05), more or less. The person who ultimately won the race was pacing with me for the 2 miles before he took off. While we were striding together, we passed a pack of 3 young kids. I tried to match his pace but my efforts were futile (down). I then realized I better pace myself to defend the 3rd overall position (Up)! I staved off an attack from a teenager & pulled off the victory; I placed better than planned (up). Unfortunately, they gave out medals (down) instead of trophies. However, they gave out a gift certificate as well (up), rare in most events.

Sunday agenda-Escape to Miami triathlon

The big hype of this event is escape island. Swimmers are ferried to this island then they escape to Miami by swimming back to Margaret pace park. Since I am aquatically challenged (down), another runner (NU) who was able to swim, accepted the task as a favor (up). I went with her up to the ferry but only she could board. Even though she says she is not a good swimmer & does not really like doing it, she completed the swim in the choppy waters, then the cyclist took over. She struggled with internal (injury & lack of sleep) and external (high winds & bridges) conditions and did not perform as fast as usual (down), she stated. As a co-ed relay team, we were considered weak because we had two females; a stronger team only has one. Based on the 3rd place team's times, I began in the hole 22:04 (down). As I told the swimmer, at a nine minute pace (8:57) , the runner would be at approximately the 2.5 mile point of the 10k before I even get to start, an insurmountable lead (down). Remarkably, that team was in danger of losing as my pace (6:47) cut the deficit to only 6 seconds (up), despite taking my first fall as a runner (tripped on something on the way down the bridge(down)) this year! Although we missed placing by 7 seconds (down), we shattered the time set by last year's team (up) by over 40 minutes (up). Much like the Miami Dolphins game this weekend, we mounted an incredible comeback (up) & had a chance to win, but however, ultimately came up short (down). Unlike the Dolphins, we still have a winning record in terms of placing in events. Even though individually, I did well (beat my time of last year by about 5 minutes), like Ricky Williams said after a game he set a Dolphin's team record in rushing, "I did well but apparently not enough because we (the team) did not win".