SAPR 5K Run Report

Ok, it's late in coming, but I'm posting the first race report of this season. Last week I ran the SAPR 5K on the Great Lakes Navy Base. First of all, some background:

SAPR is a department of defense program that stands for Sexual Assault Prevention and Response. The program was established to help deal with the growing problem of assault in the DoD. I heard a very staggering statistic...1 out of 5 students on the Navy base where I teach is sexually assaulted each year. That is stupid. So I'm glad that the SAPR program is doing what they do. One of the things they did was host a 5K during the Sexual Assault Awareness Month (April).

The weather was pathetic. It was barely 40 degrees and rain was spitting in my face. I didn't dress well for it at all with a short sleeve shirt and shorts. Get my drift? Horrible conditions.

Some buddies and I took a half mile jog around the starting area to warm up and then I stretched. After the most amazing rendition of the Star Spangled Banner I've heard in maybe my life, the base Commanding Officer gave a short speech on the importance of stopping sexual assault, we were given a final countdown and then we took off.

Immediately most of my friends from the school house took off as I knew they would (and they should have). However, I saw one of them who I knew was faster than me, yet he was still in range, so I went up to run beside him. For the first half mile, I was pretty cool with it, but after that I was feeling it already. I knew he could pull away from me whenever he wanted to, and he kept his really great pace, but I just committed to staying with him as long as I could.

I managed to stay with him for a little over a mile before he left me behind. Still, I kept up the press on my own pace and did very, very well for myself. I ran an 8:36 pace. My hope, someday, is to have that pace for a half marathon. That would let me break 2 hours, which I haven't done in my previous runs.

All in all, it was a fine race, but it was very cold. I need to get better, but I will. It felt good to run again since I've been out due to an injury.