People For Parks 5K (and bonus miles)

Few runs are as enjoyable as those consisting of bonus miles. Those are the miles you run before or after a race, but not as part of the race itself. This morning we run the People For Parks 5K (fund-raising to pave the audience area in front of the Lake Harriet bandshell and refurbish the worn benches). The run promised to be fun and an opportunity to use my Bikilas in a race, but my training schedule called for 11 or 12 miles this Sunday. The solution? Bonus miles!

Instead of driving to Lake Harriet, I decided to run there. The plan was to run in my Kayanos and carry my Bikilas in a small backpack. Then run the 5K along with a number of friends and Sharon who were biking or driving there. (In all fairness, Sharon also put some bonus miles by adding a 5K around the house before the race).

The run to Lake Harriet was pretty awesome. I took a few detours (one of them by accident), and ended up doing 8.82 miles at 8:20 min/mile. And did so very comfortably. I will give some credit to some dude that thought he could pass me and ended up eating my dust. The rest of the credit belongs to Eric Clapton and his San Francisco Bay Blues from Unplugged that I played obsessively as I was cruising through Lyndale.

The 5K itself was also pretty good. Finished in 25:37 (8:16/mile), thanks in part to anther dude that thought he could pass me. This time, I had my serving of dust, though.

One thought was planted in my head that is worth mentioning, and in the event that Tim reads this... As I made it to Lake Harriet, I realized there was another run taking place in the area: the City of Lakes 25K. This other run starts at 8:00 AM. The 5K I run started at 11:00AM. What is more, the finish line of the 25K race is very near the start of the 5K. Of course that got me thinking... (and I am sure you, Tim, know where I am taking this). If next year the setup is the same, we could do the 25K and finish on time to get our bib for the 5K. The best part is that each race automatically becomes bonus miles for the other race!! How could we let an opportunity like that pass?

Tim, if you are reading this, let me know that you are in, 'cause I already know you want to do it.