Quick race report. I know I’m still behind on getting the ASC Greenway Trail Marathon race report out, but wanted to get this one out quickly.
Thanks to everyone that supported our team, Kelley’s Spirit. We came close to our $2000.00 goal with $1750.00 raised. Even though the race was today, you can still help by donating. It’s a GREAT cause and even if you can only spare 5 or 10 dollars, it would really go a long way. Every small amount helps. Click here to help.
It was a brisk morning with temps hovering around 50. The race started about 5-10 mins late with everyone waiting with great anticipation. I’m the one in the center of the picture below with a blue shirt and pink bunny ears. ;)
I had a goal time of 19:00 minutes which was about 48 seconds faster than last year. I know shaving 48 seconds off of an already blazing speed (for me anyhow) was a lofty goal. However, I’ve been training hard all year with triathlons and other races, so I felt confident that I would be faster than last year. Still, 48 seconds may not seem like a lot, but that’s huge in a 5k. If I had to shave off 48 seconds from one of my longer triathlons, it wouldn’t be a problem. I decided to go for it anyhow.
With a plan to do negative splits (each mile faster than the previous), I was shooting for 1st mile marker at 6:14, second mile marker at 12:21 and third mile marker at 18:21 and the finish line at 19:00. That’s about a 2% increase in speed at each mile.
The first 1/4 mile was downhill. Since the first two miles is a lolli-pop loop, we would have to run back up that hill right towards the end of the 2nd mile. Standing at the start line, I did some thinking (uh-oh) that I should probably go a little faster off the line (down the hill) to make up for the slowdown on the way back up.
After the start, we all jetted down the hill setting the first 15 or so of us off from the rest of the pack. By the time the first hill came, several of the teenagers that started off out front quickly fell behind. At mile 1, I looked at my watch which said 5:56. Holy cow, that was much faster than I had anticipated/wanted. However, it did work into the plan of slowing down on the uphill. Besides, I was ahead of schedule to break my 19:00 time.
At mile 2, on the uphill, I hit the marker at 12:15, only 6 seconds ahead of schedule, but none-the-less, still ahead of schedule. Between mile 2 and 3, the gradual sloped hill seemed to go on forever. It wasn’t steep at all, just slightly above level, but just didn’t seem to end.
After two quick left hand turns, we were half-mile from the finish and all down hill. I picked up the pace considerably and sprinted at the end trying to catch Alejandro Arreola who I had been following for most of the race. However, his side-line fans warned him of my approach. He poured it on right at the end to prevent me from catching him. Great race, Alejandro!
I finished at 19:10, about 10 seconds shy of beating my goal time. Still a GREAT race and took 1st place male, 35-39 and 13th overall (out of around 1500 timed runners).
After the race, Alba and I hurried back up the road a bit just in time to catch our good friend and neighbor, Fred Pfifer running. He looked to have a very comfortable pace, but much faster than last year.
We tried to catch a picture of his wife, Crystal, but she must have been going by us so fast that our eyes couldn’t focus in on her. We walked back down and met up with the rest of the team, family and friends. What a great bunch of folks. You should see some of them water ski and tube!
Since Alba suffered a calf muscle tear about three weeks ago, she wasn’t able to participate in the run. She was quite bummed. Since she had her heart set on participating, she signed up for the non-competitive 5k fun run/walk. After hooking up with the rest of the group, her and I went to walk the 5k. We had no hopes of her running it, but made a pack that if she felt ok, we may run a bit and walk a bit. By the time we made it to the course, it was CROWDED, which made running, near to impossible.
It was fine with us, as we were able to walk the whole 5k with a fairly brisk pace. We also had a great time joking around and talking a bit. I really enjoy moments like that with Alba.
Speedy Lizard 