I heard about this race, the Hamilton Hangover, a month or two ago and decided it would be a great way to cap off the RW Run Streak. Also, it's the 32nd year in a row for this race, and I kinda have a soft spot for races than having been going for a long time, and 32 years definitely counts. AND, I'd get to start the new year with a PR, since I'd never run a 5-mile race before. My goal was to do it in under 40 minutes. I had two blunt force shin injuries this fall (not related to running or to each other; just stupidly bad luck) which set my running back a bit. I did a test 5k in early December and was able to nail an average 8:00 pace throughout, so I did some long fast intervals in the intervening weeks to try to sharpen up for this race.

Today's race looped through a big park on paved trails. The weather at the start was 32 and high thin clouds with little wind; not nearly as awful as I was afraid it might be. The starting gun went off, and the path was very crowded, so I was concerned about reaching my pace quickly enough. I know I normally speed up during races, so even though I needed to average 8:00, I was planning to aim for around 8:05-8:10 for the first mile and ease into the faster paces from there. Mile 1 ended up being 8:12. Ok, a touch slower than I wanted, but I'll take it. I sped up a tad, but tried to very careful not to push too hard. "This is not a 5k. This is not a 5k....hold back" I kept saying to myself. Mile 2 came in at 8:06. Hmm, also slower than I wanted, which I guess is better than too fast at this point, but...time to get serious; no more miles above 8 if I'm going to finish under 40. I picked up the pace again. The course had had rolling hills throughout, but we started getting some more substantial ones around here. Mile 3 was 7:56. Better, but I still felt like I couldn't quite find the right place between relaxing and hammering too hard. The fourth mile should have been the fastest; it was the flattest of all, with the fewest turns. But at several points in this mile, I caught myself loafing and realized I'd slowed down. It's like my mind kept wandering instead of focusing on holding my pace. I got really mad at myself when I saw 8:08 for that mile; no way should it have been that slow. I finally told myself, "well, sub-40 is out of reach, but so what, HAMMER this last mile!" And I did, or at least tried to. I got the last mile in 7:51. My watch logged an additional 22 seconds for a distance of 0.05 miles, as well, for a total time of 40:35.

The first time at a new distance is always challenging, so I'm ok with my result, but I do think I had the sub-40 in me fitness-wise; I just didn't execute well enough. But now I know for any future 5-mile races that I don't have to be as cautious as I was; I think I dug too big of a hole after the first two miles. Even though I was only technically 18 seconds behind pace at that point, there was really no room for error at all going forward from there. And of course the fourth mile was bad from a mental standpoint. But I was proud of my last mile, which included a short but very steep hill. And throwing out the fourth mile, I otherwise had good negative splits, so I'm happy about that too.

Anyway, I checked the results just to be sure I hadn't won an award (did not expect to), and I found out I was in the age group of 20-39. What?? How is that fair? I wouldn't have placed even in my 10-year AG, but still, come on! All the other groups above that were in 10-year increments.

Overall, I had a lot of fun. The race was only $20, and the shirts are long-sleeved, highly-visible neon green, and made of tech material; triple win! Also, it was interesting to race in a different part of the state. I'm located in central NJ and am used to seeing the same folks at races. This race was in the southwestern part of the state (Hamilton, near Trenton), and I saw nobody I recognized, and nearly all the fliers advertising races were from Delaware and eastern Pennsylvania; many more of both of those than NJ races. And the runners seemed more serious here, though maybe that was just this particular race vs. your average weekend 5k at the local high school kinda thing. I saw a lot more fancy running clothes, more GPS watches, and so forth at this.

So, a good experience. I don't know when I'll get another crack at a 5 mile race, since they really aren't common around here as far as I can tell.

Good report.  The "loafing" is a very real thing, it's easy for the mind to lose focus on the task at hand even if the body is not distressed.

Too bad about the odd age groups, not very fair to lump 20-somethings in with anyone else not a masters runner.  Score on the hi-vis tech shirt!

Awesome! You came close. And yup, an automatic PR. Nice job!

Don't be too hard on yourself, you did great. Although your splits were off from where you wanted, they are still quite respectable. Congrats!

I find myself hitting the "loafing" too.

Great effort. I did a 5 mile race in 2013 and really enjoyed it. Our one was all flat though. Also, because there had been some torrential rain the night before the course was slightly changed so I suspect overall it was a bit short. Although I officially broke 40 mins I was probably more like just over, similar to your time perhaps.  Keep training and you'll break 40 easily next time. Mine is a yearly race too so I'll get a rerun next September.

Great job!

Congratulations!   That's a really fast 5 mile time.

I think you did a great after-race analysis and although you may feel now that your strategy was maybe not the best for a 5 miler, you executed your plan to perfection. I am greatly impressed by that. Bravo! Coming back from an injury isn't easy, but it looks like you had a very clear idea of where your fitness is and I have no doubt that if you'd decided to run a bit more even splits, you would have nailed a sub-40:00. You did excellent, congratulations!