From K Town to Seldom Seen

Saturday, April 25th, was another one of those days. Like Wednesday past when I had a work day, an interview, a short swim, and I won a 5K, it was a day filled with activity and memorable success.

Our granddaughter from Cleveland, spent the night with us after she and her mom and I all shared a lovely meal at No Way Jose. Andrea, our daughter, stayed at her brother's house on Medallion Street and we swung by there to pick her up at 6:00 am before heading south to Koscuisko, K Town, for their annual Natchez Trace Festival and 5K. Andrea and I were to run, while Penny was to school Caitlin in the finer points of festival shopping.

Ksociusko is a nice town with some old picturesque homes and one of the neatest town squares I have ever seen. Not as neat as Oxford's but it is pretty and has a charm that I find ineffable. On festival day the square and a few side streets fill with the most amazing collection of vendors I have ever seen. My wife loves to shop there while I run the race, cool down, and wait through the awards ceremony.

Andrea and I registered for the run on race morning, and I felt a sense of nostalgia at paying my daughter's fee just like Dad always paid mine when we did these things together. I hope I pay for a lot of them.

Me n Baby Girl before the race

The race went well. Before the start, I took my Garmin off my wrist and held it in my hand because I wanted to look constantly at my pace. I was determined to beat my Wednesday time. Wednesday's 5K, however, was not really five kilometers but an even three miles. K Town not only would be a tenth of a mile longer, but it has hills. Maybe its hills aren't imposing to a hill dweller, but to a flat lander, they are pace breakers and pain makers. 

I did the first mile, which has a lot of downhills, in 8:18. Wednesday's first mile was 8:13. Was I in trouble? Mile two has some flats and a few uphills and I squeaked out an 8:25 dangerously close to what I did a few days earlier. Mile three in K Town is a real witch. With a couple of long, painful hills, I looked constantly at the Garmin and fought hard against the inevitable slowdown. I finished in 26:18 for a 8:28 pace and good enough for third in my age group.

Dude, that's a three second per mile improvement over earlier in the week! But, you ask, can you really improve inside of one week? Yes, when you are not in top shape you can, AND the three miles at 5K pace done on Wednesday is about as good of a workout as you can possibly do. That kind of running produces results, and it produces them quickly. So why not run like that all the time? you ask. The reason why not is that kind of running is too painful and too fraught with injury possibilities. Mostly I run for fun and for health, and a more relaxed pace is what I find most enjoyable. In fact, I am already scheming on some Buddy Bones Marathons for when the weather cools off in the fall.

After finishing, I did a quick turn around and started shuffling back to meet Andrea. The walkers had started one minute after the runners, and I told her as we stood on the starting line not to get caught by a walker. I passed several walkers coming in as I doubled back on the course looking for her yellow cap. 

I shuffled slowly until I met up with Andrea and turned around and ran back while she finished. I didn't say anything about the walkers, but after she crossed the line and we started cooling down she brought it up. 

"Well, you know there are some really good walkers out here. The main thing is you have something to think about all next year when you train."

She agreed and all was well.

Penny and I had plans for the afternoon to go to Seldom Seen. Wilson Carroll graciously invited us to meet him on his Carroll County piece of heaven to chat and take a swim in the lake named after the land, a sixty-something acre piece of flood control built sometimes in the late 50s or early 60s. Forgive me, Wilson, if I have the dates wrong because I have a forgeter that works overtime.

It was a lovely swim and I even captured some GoPro footage although it wasn't exactly what I wanted, the footage I mean. Wilson was too quick and thus too far ahead of me to be featured in the film. He was usually not visible and when he was in sight not as clear as I had hoped. 

Just before we started. That's Wilson's head
in the background.

Anyway, my wife and I had a great time. Wilson's place is lovely, talking with him was enjoyable, and the swim was a treat because the water was that perfect cool but not too cold. We went 2.61 miles for a nice but not exhausting workout. Thank you, Wilson.

All things considered, it was a good week of training. I 

ran 20.58 miles and raced two times,
swam 22,799 meters,
walked 9.58 miles, and
lifted weights two times.