<p>Two posts ago, I mentioned I was running this race, my usual, on Thanksgiving Day. Well, that was a week ago, so how about a recap?</p>
<p>Awoke around 5:30, had laid everything out as I’ve learned to do from a million races before, suited up, ate a bit of breakfast, and was on my way toward Centreville by… shoot, I don’t remember, but I got there pretty early. Grabbed my packet, and with 45 minutes to kill before the race, returned to my car to stay warm and relax.</p>
<p>Around 7:45, I pop out of the car, do a quick jaunt to the starting line, nudge my way toward the front, and by 8:00 we’re off. As usual, and regardless of where I line up for this race, I have to deal with a lot of slow traffic. Despite being 4000 strong, this race is still very much a community one; folks have no idea they shouldn’t line up near the front if they’re slow. Luckily, it’s a chip race so no matter how long it takes me to get to the line, my personal timer doesn’t begin until then. Still, it’s a major pain to deal with weaving in and out for the first mile of the race.</p>
<p>Going into the race, I had no idea what I was capable of. My best 5k since “returning” from injury had been a 20:46 or so. Since then, I had done a good amount of biking, and for a few weeks had been running 10-12 miles per. Nothing to write home about (my peak marathon mileage is more like 60 miles per week), but at least my legs had been moving. For some reason, I figured I might be capable of a sub-20 despite zero speed training and such limited mileage. I decided I’d go out at a 6:20-6:30 pace and see how I felt.</p>
<p>Mile #1 went by in 6:28. Tons of weaving, but I was feeling strong and the crowd [of runners] began to thin significantly.</p>
<p>Mike #2 went by in 6:27. Again, I felt really strong. This is a tougher mile than the first with some pretty solid elevation changes [relative to the rest of the course]. In a typical 5k, the 2nd mile is your toughest anyway, due to it not being the first and not being the last… It’s a mental thing. I still felt quite strong, looked at my watch, knew what I had to do for my lofty goal, and began to push.</p>
<p>Mile #3 took a mere 6:12. This is another tough mile with a solid uphill, but no downhill to make up for it. Again, these elevation changes are all relative. Despite what my GPS shows, there are two times in this course (in Mile #2 and Mile #3) where you look forward and say “Damn, that’s a hill.” Once back on the straight toward the finish, I knew I had very little left [in the race] and kicked it into overdrive. I’ve been running long enough to know how much effort I can put into a final half mile, and I put exactly that in. My final .1 mile was done at 5:22 pace; I even had a kick!</p>
<p>Final time? 19:47. 6:20 pace on the button. Negative splits all the way. You can’t run a much better race. 97th place out of 3300. Was 42nd out of 2786 with a time of 19:10 when I last ran this race in 2008.</p>
<p>I’m rather ecstatic. I shouldn’t have anything near that in my given my current shape. Maybe it’s a sign I need to really focus on these shorter races because I’m obviously a bit more gifted for them? Regardless, a great race to more or less close out the season. I’ll continue to do all my “series” races, but none of them will get an all-out effort like this.</p>
<p>While I have painted quite the rosy picture, it wouldn’t be right for me to not mention it took me a solid four days to recover from this race. Despite being pretty fast, my body isn’t trained whatsoever; it can’t handle this kind of pounding and it let me know. I missed my long run this weekend, my calves are still a bit tight… This running stuff? Not certain why I do it, but… Onward.</p>
<p>GPS: <a href=”http://connect.garmin.com/activity/58058851″>connect.garmin.com/activity/58058851<br/>
</a>Results: <a href=”http://results.active.com/pages/displayNonGru.jsp?pubID=3&amp;rsID=103935″>results.active.com/pages/displayNonGru.jsp</a></p>