Pig Iron Porter

Saturday morning we got up early to do a block workout. Shawn and I arrived at the Y at 6 a.m. and did an easy mile swim and transitioned to the stationary bikes for a short 40 minute ride. We got home quick and met Mike to go over to Newark for the Iron Hill 5k race. The registration was at the restaurant and we got there in plenty of time. Finding the start was another story. We walked and jogged for twenty minutes to the other side of downtown Newark and finally found the start on the campus of University of Delaware at 2 minutes to nine. We were not the only ones who had this trouble and the race started about 15 minutes late - which gave us a chance to run to the restrooms that were conveniently at the start line. We met two other friends at the start. The race went off and was pretty much down hill for the first mile - 7:09. Feeling very good because of the long warm-up I kept the pace as steady as I could, the second mile came in at 7:40 and it had flattened out. The third mile was flat and a bit uphill, but I was able to stay strong at 7:42. I could have done without the last half of the last mile, but a 5k is not a 5k without the mouth sweats at the end and a feeling of puking. It comes and goes within minutes of the finish. 23:20 was my finish time, my best 5k time by about a minute. The track workouts have paid off for my faster running. One of my track mates won the female race, I was 65th overall and 8th female. Shawn had his best 5k time and the others had good showings as well. The best reward was the Pig Iron Porter back at Iron Hill and their spread (sandwiches, salads, fries and cookies - all by 10 a.m.) + a t-shirt...we voted it "most for your money 5k." We went home for a nap and reconvened for more drinking by 3 p.m.