Tropical 5K

15:41, 1st Place Overall (Course Record)

1-28-2006, 7:30AM- Miami, FL; 70-degrees, 15 mph headwind, gusting to 20 mph
SPLITS- 4:57, 9:58 (5:00), 15:10 (5:11), :31

* Alright, a good morning overall. Was disappointed with the weather conditions, but what a great event. There must have been over 2,000 runners, and about 200 "celebrities" (almost everyone that has ever done anything gains celebrity status in Miami, it seems), including Emilio Estefan and Alfonso Soriano. Anyhow, the course was a point-to-point gorgeous run over the causeway with billion dollar cruiseships on your right and multi-million dollar homes on your left. I, however, was unable to enjoy the scenery, as I basically ran the 5K with my head down the whole way battling the up to 20 mph headwinds.

Talk about a hurricane, it was so windy today, and with the course being run East into the direct headwind, that my experiment of running steady the day before a major race, almost went awry, as I did have to work a little harder than I would have liked because of the wind. I was actually quite surprised that I was clicking off sub-5 minute miles into the wind, but I wanted to get off the bridge as soon as I could and get the run over with, that's how windy it was. Josh Brashears caused me to get a bit nervous, as he hung on gamely through the mile before falling back and finishing in second with a 16:49 for the former Penn State star.

Otherwise, I cooled down easily in preparation for tomorrow's half marathon and enjoyed a nice conversation with Frank Shorter and my wife while eating bagels and our infamous cream cheese (long story) at the post-race party. Shorter told some great war stories and reminded me why I train so hard. It was actually a nice conversation about running in general... about Fukuoka and going out in 29:33 for the opening 10K. How he liked racing marathons alone and in front... about fuel issues in a marathon... about training.

The awards were great, as I got to be presented with my award by Major League Baseball star, Alfonso Soriano, of the Washington Nationals and the Dominican Republic.

And now, the rest of the day will be dedicated to recovery, as my boss called and has allowed me to skip tonight's game versus South Dakota State in order to rest for the nice 4AM wake-up and 6AM ING Miami Half Marathon...

Perla and her lost child... not really, just one heck of a cute angel from Montana...