Real David H.

A year after not being able to run a race on Thanksgiving Day, I’m very grateful today to have hit the hilly streets of Lynchburg for my second 5k in less than a week. There has been no greater feeling of success than coming back from my injury this year.

Similar to last week, my main goal was to run hard, not give quite that 100 percent race effort and think about how I’ll approach my “A” 5k next week in the Christmas Classic.

There’s really nothing to “report” from today besides a few notes:

• My chip time was 24:54. I would have liked to have been closer to 24 minutes, but with a jam-packed beginning I just rolled with the crowd, weaving in and out way too much, thus having nothing in the tank for the final uphill finish. Or maybe it was my 4th beer last night that left me without as much to give today.
• I am very happy to have been 176th out of 1,395 finishers, and 17th in my age group out of 55.
• My Garmin, which I know is slightly off with elevation issues, said this race had 270 feet of elevation gain. That’s nuts for such a short run. Here’s the elevation data:

• I overdressed. It’s the first time I’ve done that in a race. By the time the race started (10 minutes late), it was in the low 40s and there was no need for a long-sleeve shirt. It made for too big of a distraction in the second half of the race with that being hot feeling.
• My sister ran her first race today, finishing in 36:40. I’ve been dropping hints for a while now for her to sign up for the Monument Avenue 10k in Richmond. We’ll see what happens.
• Lastly, I got to talk to Taco’s owner. Taco is a local running celebrity, and I’ve seen him several times this year. His owner says that Taco runs about 20 miles a week. And no leash is needed for this awesome dog.