I had no idea what to expect out of myself today. Even 20 minutes before the start I had not decided if I was going to run the 5K or 10K. But I did want to log a few miles today to go over 40 for the week and running the 10K would do that for me. So my best guess as what I could do was: 7:30 avg=ok, 7:20 avg=good, and 7:15 avg or better=great. Ran a mile warmup. The temp. at the start was just under 70ºf and went over that a bit by the finish. My legs felt very good since I had not run on the roads the last 2 days.
The 1st mile is a gradual climb. The first year I ran this I did not realize this and it hurt me in the end. So today I just kept it comfortable. The 5K and 10K were run at the same time. There was only 1 10K runner in front of me and he was still pulling away. I managed to pick off a few 5K runners on the 2nd mile. I ran the same pace as the 1st mile. Somewhere along the 3rd mile I thought I heard some footsteps behind me. It got me to pick it up a bit. Made the turn-around at 3.1 in 22:34. At this point I still felt pretty good and decided could increase the pace. But I was in unchartered territory since I was already running much faster than any of my training runs the last month and a half. On the 4th mile I was starting to feel more tired. But I reminded myself I was in a race and just tried to maintain a good pace. 5th mile I still was holding on, especially knowing the last mile was downhill. I let it all go on the 6th. Nice to run downhill to the end.
Here are the splits from my Garmin:
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7:20
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7:19
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7:10
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22:34 @ 3.1 split
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7:04
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7:03
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6:50
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1:14
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21:29 @ 6.2 split
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Total - 44:03 - 7:06 avg.
Every mile was faster than the one before it. Even if only by a few tenths of a second. And a negative split of 1:05 for the 2nd half of the race was a surprise. I only glanced at the watch when it chimed in at every mile. But I was running by feel, and glad I did not let the faster splits scare me into slowing down.
Last year, with more training and no injuries, I ran a 42:51. 2 years ago my best 5K on this course was a 23:19. Better training has definitely made me faster over the last 2 years. I was very happy with my time and how good I felt during the race all the way to the end, especially after only running for a month and a half.
The winning time was 40:04. | 