New Year's Eve 5K

Last night was the New Year's Eve 5K. It was a good time and I prefer it over going out and getting drunk. I ran about what I expected.

Perhaps the toughest decision came with what to wear. It was perfect temperature wise. It was warm for this time of year with no wind. The problem was that it was raining and fairly hard. At first, I was going to go with a jacket. I then decided that that would weigh me down too much. I opted instead for just a ColdGear top. I figured I'd only be wet for 20 or so minutes. I was almost tempted to run in shorts.

I run on the course almost daily, so I know it well. The crowd was young, so I figured I'd have a tough time. That said, I did start pretty far upfront. I hung with the front group for a quarter mile or so, but it was just too fast so I backed off.

Past the half mile point, I came to two runners in tuxedos. I was about to pass them. When I did, a dog started chasing me and forced me to slow down. I guess the owner figured no one would be out there at this time of night and let him off the leash. I slowed as he chased me. He backed off and went back to the owner then.

Although that cost me some time, I still ran a good first mile. I didn't watch my Garmin, instead I looked at the clock. Apparently that was a mistake. It said I ran 6:40, but it was actually a 6:20. I didn't push as hard as I could've from that point on.

I still did keep pushing. I was passed by two girls in evening gowns and a guy in a tux. Just past the halfway point, another girl in a gown passed me. I stayed right behind her for awhile, before she took off. Another guy passed me as well.

I ran most of the second half alone. I saw someone coming up behind me with 3/4 a mile left, but he must've fell off. Someone in front of me was fading fast. With just under a 1/4 to go, I started my kick and blew by him. I had to leave him defeated and couldn't take a chance. I knew I had kicked early. Even so, I almost passed the guy and girl that passed me at the turnaround point. Perhaps if I kicked at the right time, I could've passed all three in front of me.

Even with the rain and some snow earlier in the day, the course was pretty good. It was slippery in some of the sandy areas of the path. Other than that, it wasn't bad though.

The awards and food area was nice. They staged it inside of a boathouse. That keep us dry and relatively warm. I didn't know if I won an award or not, but I figured I must've. I think I was 12th overall, with three or four girls ahead of me. Much to my surprise though, I won my age group. There was a 9 year old who ran a 23 something. Pretty impressive little guy.

A couple obstacles kept me slower than my training run the other day. I also felt kind of full, perhaps from eating dinner. I still ran hard and pushed though. I'm just really so uncomfortable with speed. I need to greatly improve in that area. That said, I did cut over 2 minutes off my 5K time from August. I am definitely getting a lot better and I'm near the best shape of my life.

The rest of today and tomorrow will be off. Sunday will be another 10 mile long run. After that, we'll continue mileage building. I work later in the day next week, so I'll definitely be making another trip up to Valley Forge. I think the hills have really helped me as of late.

3.12 miles - 20:31 (6:34 pace)