A whole different ballgame

Well, I ran my first 5000m this past week, and despite not getting my Pan Am standard, it was a learning experience, and a good one at that.  For 3000m, I was feeling great splitting 3:00, 5:59, 9:00 sitting off two other runner's shoulders.  Then it hit me.  Before I even finished my eighth lap, I locked up and watched as the group I was running with quickly opened up a gap that only closed upon them crossing the finish line.  My last 2 kilometers were run in 3:17 and 3:14, giving me a finishing time of 15:31.57.  Apparently the 4th kilometer is the curse of the 5000 for those who have never run one before, and the curse definitely got the best of me that day.  But I'm one of those guys that believes even when you run as bad of a race as I did, there is always some upside to the experience.  And even though I had to think long and hard trying to find a positive aspect of my run, I eventually realized that this race just made the OFSAA 3k look like a sprint.  Also, I think I officially mastered the snot rocket after the race (see, there's always an upside.)  But seriously, less than 8 laps should be over in a flash, and the entire time I'll be thinking about how lucky I am that I don't have to keep going for another 5.  Today was another ball-buster of a workout, made even tougher by the lack of sleep due to my Prom and after party yesterday/this morning but I'm feeling confident that I will be ready to roll come next Saturday.  I'll fill you in on all the happenings of the O-Show in Sudbury as it goes down - but until then, I need to have myself a solid nap before I fall asleep at my computer.