After finishing the Dave's Run for ALS 5K in 30:00.4, I was determined to add some speed to my weekly workouts and run a sub-30-minute 5K. However, between my work schedule and my IT Band, I never made it to the track. Shocking, I know. I showed up for the Tucson 5000 feeling not very confident about a fast time, but feeling just fine with that. That's one of the advantages of being slow - no pressure.

We lined up on Country Club for the start of the square course around Reid Park and the race director announced that the race's only water stop had been stolen - water, cups, table and all. Who would steal an entire water stop?

When the gun went off, I tried to find a comfortably hard pace and chose people in front of me to stick with for motivation. I felt great on 22nd Street, but started tiring as we turned onto Randolph Way which has a slight incline - very slight, but I could feel it. I was not having much fun, but was on pace for the sub-30 and so kept pushing it. On the bright side, this part of the course was on a nice, shady path, which was very welcome considering the above average temperatures.

As we approached the turn onto Broadway, I was relieved to see that the race volunteers, not to be outdone by the somewhat unusual vandals, had made it to the store and back, and had set up a new aid station out of the back of a truck. I walked long enough to get some water in my mouth and over my head, and then picked it up again. Luckily, we were on a slight decline, but it still felt hard.

With about 1/2 mile to go, my heart rate was skyrocketing and I decided to walk for a minute to get it back to a sustainable pace. It wasn't long before a woman twice my age ran by me breathing like an asthmatic. This sight shamed me into running again - no matter how bad I felt, it was clear that I wasn't pushing it nearly as hard as she was.

I passed her and a few others and kept looking at my watch as I approached the finish. I crossed in 29:32 feeling pretty much like crap - yet pleased to have accomplished this goal. It took a few minutes to catch my breath and about half an hour for the light-headedness to go away. Did I mention it was hot? My time was good for 252 out of 337 total racers and 15 out of 28 in my age group.

Next up on the race calendar is the Firecracker Tri on July 5. (I've stuck faithfully to my twice-weekly swims for over a month now!) However, next up on the endurance event calendar is MDA Summer Camp from May 30 to June 6. Which is why my guest bedroom looks like this...