If you would've asked me two weeks ago what I thought my 5K time would be, I would've guessed something around 23 minutes, 22 minutes at best. Then, I ran a hard time trial 5K last week and surprised the heck out of myself with a 20:23. That was wind aided though.
I've been running all long and slow mileage. I knew my endurance was great, I was just shocked at how much speed I was able to carry without any fast efforts. I decided that I needed to officially enter a race. When I was on Pretzel City Sports website the other day, I saw they had a night race today. Perfect I thought, especially since I love night runs.
The race started behind a bar on the Schuylkill River Trail. At first, I was thinking that it went down one direction, so I ran there. It was rough and I figured if the race went that way, it would be tough to run fast. I then noticed how they setup the finish line and saw that it would actually go the other way. It was overall pretty flat, but not pancake flat. A lot of it was paved, but there was some stone too.
I got there early and warmed up with a fairly quick half mile or so out and back. I didn't time it at all. I just ran on feel. I then did a lot of striders to keep the legs churning and sharp. It used to be that I never warmed up before races and I still don't for long races. However, something as fast as 5K, you need to get your legs ready to run fast. Plus, covering the distance is easy so you don't lose much by running a moderate paced warmup.
I got to the line early and the timing people were quite late. That was kind of annoying. At first, I was one of the few people looking to line up at the front. Then, a few others showed up. There were a few guys that were obviously faster, some I wasn't so sure about and then a young kid that was a wildcard. I figured that I would easily be in the Top 10 overall. I wasn't expecting a strong field for a Tuesday night race anyway.
The race started off downhill and actually felt kind of slow to me. That was great because usually they feel too fast. When I did check my watch, the pace was under 6 minutes. Obviously it wasn't slow and I did need to slow down some. I figured a lot of that speed was just due to it being a downhill start.
I settled in at 6th place and followed the 5th place guy. It is nice when you are that far up front that you know where you are. I was afraid that I could get stuck in no man's land if I couldn't keep up. There weren't too many people right behind me.
The weather for this evening was actually perfect. It was cool and there was no wind. I went with a short sleeve shirt and shorts. I had zero issues.
One thing that I was unsure about was that it was supposed to be a haunted run. People hid on the course and dressed as zombies. They didn't get in the way too much though and thankfully didn't jump out in front of us and scare us. I'm sure they had more fun with the back of the field, but us frontrunners were too focused and running hard. They actually put fake body parts on the course too. If you picked them up, you won a prize. Of course I saw some, but I wasn't about to pick any up and run the rest of the race with it.
Mile 1 went very well. It was a 6:27 mile and I didn't feel like I was overworking myself at that point. I was sort of hoping I could break 20 minutes, but that would require a 6:25. I figured that that probably wasn't realistic yet and I was correct.
Somewhere around the first mile, I was passed by a guy in costume. I had been right behind the guy that was in 5th place, so I passed that guy and followed the costume guy. The costume guy made for an awesome pace setter.
This was an out and back and I was happy that I didn't see the 2 leaders until after 1.25 miles. Around that point, there was short uphill. It was tough, but I pushed hard. I continued to follow the costume guy. By now, my breathing was starting to labor a bit. I just thought about how short the race was and how I just needed to hang on.
I thought there would be a person at the turnaround, but there were just a few glow sticks. Luckily, I was followed that guy and he knew to turn there. I looked at my watch and realized that the pace had been slipping with me following this guy.
I didn't really have much energy and I didn't know if it was a good move or not, but I decided to use the downhill and just sprint by him. I figured that I could pick up my pace and hoping break him and build a huge gap. If I fell off in the final mile, oh well. The strategy worked perfectly and the downhill was great.
I continued to push and push. At other times, I might've backed off when my breathing was as heavy as it got today, but the great pace was so encouraging. I needed to at least break 21 minutes.
I don't remember when I encountered them, but there was this huge group of walkers on the trail. They were rather annoying to get past. I ran the second mile at 6:48. Having the guy pacing me through some of it was probably a huge help.
The final 1.1 miles I was on my own. I knew it would be difficult. Even if I really started dieing at some point, at least I put in 2 good miles. I also knew that at most only one other guy was likely going to pass me. The costume guy was still pretty far back though.
It did help that I had to hold my watch up to my headlamp to see the pace. That meant that I would look at it far less. At one point, they had caution tape between two posts. I guess I could've just ran through it, but instead I hurdled it.
I thought that I might've taken a wrong turn, but I still seemed to be on the trail and then I saw some more zombies. When I looked at my watch, I saw it at 2.76 miles. I was very happy then.
There was a nice downhill through a parking lot, before the last uphill. I was breathing so hard by now, but had to keep going. I knew my pace was under 6:40, so I was very happy with that. I went through a parking lot and a bunch of people were cheering us on. That was a nice boost.
I just battled really hard up the hill. I was so pleased to hear my watch beep at 3 miles. I was even happier to see the finish line. I ran hard through the finish and ended with a 20:29. That was good for 5th place overall and 2nd in my age group. Maybe more amazing, I beat all the women. That only ever happened once before. Usually there is one fast one.
Ron Horn (Pretzel City Sports director) heard me coming because I was breathing so hard at the finish. He thought I was someone else. I guess that just shows how much work I have yet to go. My breathing is so for behind my legs. I need to start working on that. Still, that is why I'm so amazed by the times that I am able to run.
I'm so happy with where I'm at right now. I ran faster than this all the time when I was 18 and just out of HS track. However, I've only run faster once in my post college days. That was my 5K PR back in 2010. I guess I need to go after that now too.
After the race, they had the awards ceremony in the bar. That just reminded me how awkward I am. I stood in the bar saying nothing. I can talk all day with friends, but I'll never start a conversation with strangers. I actually ended up talking with these two guys because they saw my Blues Cruise shirt and started a conversation. The one guy was the guy that passed early on in the race. He finished 7th and right behind me in my age group. I waited around for the awards, but they had a mix up with them, so they said they would mail mine.
I'm so thrilled with this run and where I'm at. I thought I was headed toward being a trail/ultra guy and that's still really want I want to do, but I guess I have to spend some time on the roads too. I have some unreached goals there and I have to go for them.
One thing I'm curious about is how fast I could run a half marathon. Is there a zone that I could run a moderate effort and still put up a fast time because my legs are so strong? Clearly I can only run so fast with my breathing holding me back. I'll just have to fix that I guess.
Tomorrow is either a longer ride or a run. I want to run at some point at the Delaware Water Gap this week. Then, I can take in the fall scenery. I'm thinking that will more likely be Thursday. I'm going to run at Jim Thorpe this weekend with a big group and that should be awesome.
3.1 miles - 20:29 (6:36 pace)
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