Hey, do you know what day it is?  It's race day!  Ha.  Unfortunately, my enthusiasm for today's race didn't exactly match this exuberant pose.

I ran a 5 mile race this morning to try and get a sense of where I'm at in my marathon training.  It wasn't a goal race, so I trained through it and headed out to see what I could do.  Being honest, my goal was sub-29.  I did not hit that.

Here's the start.  They didn't begin this race until 9am, which is a little late for this time of year.  I'm out to the right, in the bright green singlet.  As usual, lots of folks are going out too fast.  This race start was awesome though - really wide and about .5 miles before you turned at all, which was plenty of time to sort things out.  Here's what the course profile looked like (course was 2 loops, because there was actually a 5mi relay option):

The hills really weren't excessive, and certainly are less than I train on, but I felt like they took a bit out of me when combined with the 80 degrees and 94% humidity (I know Docket, not that bad ).

The first mile started out well and I was right on pace with a 5:48 mile.  I just kinda settled in to my own pace and didn't really worry about positioning, although at that point I think I was in 8th.

As we approached mile 2, the course climbed a bit and I began to gain on two of the guys in front of me.  I was still more worried about my own pace, and didn't pass anyone as Garmin showed mile 2 at 5:59.  At this point I realized that I was clicking off miles well before the markers, meaning it was going to be very tough to get myself to the pace I was looking for.

After mile two we climbed back towards the start, and completed our first loop.  I passed two runners going up the more significant climb here, and was happy to see that neither one of them made an effort to come with me.  They were nice and encouraging though, which was cool.

Now I had 4th and 5th place about 15-20 seconds ahead of me, so I started to concentrate more on gaining ground on them than on my pacing (they were the only other runners I'd have a shot at).  It seemed like every time I would make a little progress, they would put the distance right back on me.  I contemplated counting how many seconds I was behind by using landmarks and seeing how long it took me to hit the mark after they did, but that seemed like too much effort.  Mile 3 ticked by in 6:06 pace.

The two ahead of me were still running together, and I hoped that I could use the little hill in mile 4 to gain ground.  I was making progress, but still hadn't caught them as mile 4 showed in 5:58.

Finally, mounting the final hill, I caught up to one of the two guys ahead of me.  I was still about a half mile from the finish, but I decided to see if he'd come with me if I passed him pretty hard.  I have to say I was relieved when his pace didn't change.  From here, I wasn't able to catch 4th place, but I gave a decent finish.  Mile 5 showed at 6:16 though, which was disappointing.

My official time was 30:26, finishing 5th overall.  I feel a little better about the fact that Garmin had me at 5.07 miles, which would have been a 6 flat pace.

I'm not really discouraged by the result, but I had hoped for a little more.  I know that my legs have accumulated a lot of fatigue with all the miles I've put in lately, so I have to account for that.  Still, it just didn't feel like I left it all out there today.  The reality is that I'm pretty new to racing shorter distances, so this is a good lesson that I need to push a little more and not hold anything in reserve.

Eyes forward towards Columbus Marathon (10/20) now!

You're a lot faster than me, and run a lot more miles.  Yet, I can relate to trying to run a shorter race during marathon training.  I just posted my report about it...lol  I wasn't trying to judge my fitness though, and pretty much accepted my fate early.  Evidently, you're also tougher than I am too.  You still had a time goal, and tried to test your fitness.  I just decided to have myself a group tempo run.  I think reading LRB's experience and knowing that I'd still PR made it easier though.  I think you kicked butt.  That's what you do on a regular basis based on what I've seen.

Great job, nonetheless.  You cannot expect to break any records in that weather (which sounds lovely to me, just kidding).  Strong performance and great work.  Keep it up!

I have trained through a few races and for some reason, we all have this expectation that we can go into a race with no specific preparation for the distance and no taper and run a fast time and it doesn't work that way.  My approach anymore is to simply have modest goals if I'm training through a race and realize it won't be my best effort.

Sure, you didn't get your goal, but those are tough conditions. I seriously will never understand how you guys can run in that soup called humidity. 5th overall? Great race.

Are you wearing flip flops in that first picture? Sure looks like it to me. But hey... I forgive you, because you are one cute and awesomely fast runner. Congratulations, SIAR! I can't wait to see you in action in your next marathon!

5th overall... in those conditions... with no targeted training...that is an impressive result! your overall training has been quality stuff and should pay off at Columbus...stay healthy and you'll bring it home.

Hey SIAR, I'm sorry you didn't get the result you were looking for, but I hope you were able to get some good feedback on where your training is right now. Fall is just around the corner.