Over a year ago, I ran a 5K in 37 minutes and 42 seconds. I don’t recall how much I weighed at the time, but I do remember that I had not trained at all for it. I may have been lifting weights for a few weeks, but that’s about it. Of course, my time shows that. And, when I say I “ran” I use that term loosely… as I recall, there was quite a bit of walking intermixed with the running.

Almost four weeks ago, I ran in the inaugural All Access 5K and posted a race report. I ran that race in 35 minutes and 40 seconds… about 2 minutes faster than my previous race. Not only that, but this time I actually ran the entire time. That meant more to me than the time it took.

Well, today, I ran the 2009 Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure as a member of Team Lyon. This time I crossed the line in 32 minutes and 45 seconds… another three minutes shaved off! I’m about five pounds lighter today than I was four weeks ago. When I first wrote that, I thought to myself “what! Only 5 pounds!?” But, then I realized that while my weight hasn’t come down a whole lot, I have had to tighten my belt once or twice just to keep my pants up and that makes me feel great. I know that my workout program is working. I’m happy with my results and look forward to lowering my time even more on my next 5K. And, for reference, I ran this race again in my black Vibram FiveFingers KSOs.

Now, about today’s race… It was wet and chilly! I will not go so far as to say that it was “cold”… my friends in Boston, Fort Collins, and other more northern locations would definitely take issue with me saying that 50°F is cold… though, in my defense, it was windy and wind coming off the ocean can be damn cold no matter what the air temperature is!

Where was I… oh, so aside from the wind, rain, and chill, it was an absolutely beautiful day for a race at the beach. For those of you that know the Virginia Beach strip, the race started and ended at 31st Street–the start was on Atlantic heading south towards Rudee Inlet, at 8th Street the course turned onto the Boardwalk and headed north back to the finish. The first leg down Atlantic wasn’t too bad… the buildings were able to shield us from at least some of the wind. The return over on the Boardwalk was not quite so much fun. It was on this leg of the race that I was passed by another runner wearing black VFF KSOs… woot! No, not the being passed part, but the VFF KSO part. It is nice to see the movement continue to grow.

I was a little disappointed in the lack of a finisher’s “medal.” Yeah, I like shiny things… but I think that’s a geek thing. On the plus side, they had water, donuts (don’t worry, I didn’t eat any), pomegranate apple sauce, and a few flavors of yogurt for the finishers.

In short, I had a great time and it was another well run race at the oceanfront.

As a wrap up, some bad news… my iPhone battery had died on me, so I don’t have any pictures… nothing from the start, nothing from the finish, no photos of my VFFs! Oh well, next time I’ll take two of each photo and post them.