Wild Turkey 5 Mile Race

I ran the Wild Turkey 5 Mile Run in Salem yesterday. I debated about even going as my left knee still isn't right. Wednesday night I ran the D5K and it was bothering me enough that I ran slower than 10 minute miles. So I didn't see much point in hobbling around Salem. But I woke up early (as usual) and my knee felt alright, and I was interested to see what would happen in a genuine race situation, or if the knee felt different if I tried to run hard.

As it turned out I was glad I went to the race. I ran into a number of people I haven't seen in a while, including Jeff Macinnis, who hasn't run the D5K in many months. And I ran better than I expected. Maybe it was the adrenalin kicking in for a race situation, but I was able to run sub 9 minute miles after the first mile, and although my knee started to bother me around mile 4, it didn't slow me down and I didn't seem to have any permanent effects after the race from running hard.

Racewire got a picture of me finishing, but the camera was staring into the sun so there isn't a lot to see. I'm the big red blob in the middle: