Thursday, August 18, 2011

My new Kicks......don't seem to agree with me :( But it was a 5k like no other!

On July 23 I competed in the RJ Corman 5k in Nicholasville, Ky. This was a different 5k than I have run before. It wasn't anything crazy different but different because the registration fee was $0 and the winners (overall and age group winners) won Pearl Izumi running shoes!!! Yep no entry fee and free shoes count me in for sure! Oh and they had a free cookout with awesome homemade banana ice cream!! :) It has been a couple of years but I have ran the course before and felt pretty confident that I might be able to place in my age group. Also set up was the local Run Bike Swim store that was offering the same Pearl Izumi shoes for half price along with other items offered at the store. Come to find out they was holding the race for RJ's birthday and he was funding the event. RJ Corman is a local (in central Kentucky) railroad businessman who is also a runner and does lots of awesome things for the community, he is such a super nice man! It was race time and me and my friend Carmen lined up towards the front, beside us was a man in a kilt - ha ha. To begin the race they blew a train whistle and I mean a LOUD regular train whistle, even though I knew it was coming it still scared me and off I went way too fast. This was also one of the super hot days we had and it was super humid. I did okay until about mile 2 then I was tiring very quickly, we had to cross a small concrete foot bridge that swayed with all the people on it. After coming off the bridge I had to take a small walk break due to my head and stomach feeling a little dizzy. I took a quick peek at my Garmin and told myself "if you want to place you better get to moving!" At this point there was less than a half mile to go so I slowly started trying to pick up my pace, until I came around the finishing curve then I gave it all I had, which wasn't very much but I finished in 26:51! Usually it doesn't bother me if I place or not but on this day I REALLY wanted to, I WANTED to WIN me some shoes!! RJ really goes all out when races are held at his place, at the finish line there was a tub filled with iced towels super nice to have after a hot humid race. And I saw a long line of people so I went to check it out, they also gave out these sticker things that had everything on it, your name age finish time overall place and age group place, very cool! Unfortunately I did not place :( and to be honest I was quite disappointed!

But since my birthday was just around the corner my awesome and wonderful mom bought me a pair of the half price Pearl Izumi ISO Shift (shown above). When I tried them on they felt great! Then I put them on to try out on a run and well they didn't feel so great any more. They felt really tight around my toes but they were fairly comfortable while running. I wore them on about 5 or 6 runs before I have decided to go back to my old faithful Brooks! After wearing the Pearls my calves and legs hurt something terrible! So it looks like Pearl Izumi brand isn't for me.

Thank you Mr. RJ Corman for a great race! Hope to give it another try next year!!
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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You could try one of the alternate lacing techniques.

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-267--12334-0,00.html

I couldn't believe the difference lacing for high arches made.

Christy @ My Dirt Road Anthem: A Runner's Blog said...

How fun to get to do a free race that had such cool prizes, bummer on not getting any though :)

Scrappytbear said...

Thanks for commenting on my blog! :D I totally get the shoes; Im such a stickler for my regular brand :) Tried another pair and was quickly "running" back to my old brand!

Erik Ammon said...

That's awesome that Mr. Corman did that! Glad you had a good time. The PI's? Well, you at least have some shoes for walking around or yard work!