I thought there was going to be a record low attendance at the 2014 CAASA Step By Step 5k (the only Solomons Island 5k that still takes place out of the Calvert Marine Museum) on Saturday morning. When I showed up just before 8 a.m., the chilly rain was pouring down, and only a handful of cars were in the parking lot. But then lo! Joe showed up. Then almost 50 runners eventually ended up lining up at the start, by which time the rain had fortunately dissipated to drizzle (though the winds still wailed!). Anyway, I was poorly trained for this event (after taking a week off following the LPR10, I only had one week for 5k training before I had to start tapering for this race), and a certain individual --- one Greg Imhof, who I never would've considered a rival until recently (he's gotten a lot faster since he turned 40) --- put me through the race of my life. He was fiendishly persistent (I thought he'd fall back after he attempted to trail me during my sub-5:30, opening blast off mile, but he didn't and then he caught right up to me when I had to slow down for that U-turn), and shortly after mile 2 I nearly yielded to the pressure of his pursuit. But I didn't (I gained a bit of an edge back when negotiating the sharp turns in the final mile), and I held him off all the way to the blessed finish (Joe went 4OA, 2AG by narrowly cracking 21:00). This marked the first time I've ever won an event four years in a row ("VicFOURy", I dubbed it). And, though I was well off the 17:13 I ran last year (when, I'll note, the course measured shorter ... 3.09 miles then vs. 3.13 miles now), with a 17:37 finish I was surprisingly consistent with 2011-2012 (when I ran 17:36 and 17:38, respectively).
Its funny, I used to want to race DR in a shorter race, like a 800 meters cause I thought it gave me my best chance. I have trained as well as I want, but I still have decent mileage and a lot of long runs so now my chance against DR would probably be a marathon.
I'm by no means in marathon shape right now, but do you hope to challenge my 2014 LPRM time? Or to break 3:00:00? Or BQ? Those would all be noble accomplishments.
I am going for a BQ (sub 3:05) at Richmond in 11 days. I am definitely not going for your 2:49 PR, but my instinct is with not a lot of mileage and long runs if you tried to run a marathon right now you might be in that same 3:00 - 3:05 range that I am hoping to hit.
I would definitely dread to compete with you in a marathon right now, Phil. My mileage has been marginal for a long time, and it was September the last time I did something that could be called a long run. But this is 5k season!
Phil's log entry for the Richmond Marathon cuts out at 22 miles (for a second I was like "2:36?!? Oh, there were 4 more miles to go"), and he doesn't appear in the results when I do a search. What's the deal??
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Phil had stomach issues, didn't finish, as I understand.
I had surgery for a broken finger last Wenesday and we didn't do Stone Mill at all (it is same day as Richmond).
So much for this big racing weekend....
It's a 5k. It hurt like hell...then I tried to pick it up. The end.
Looks like you still got in a fine 16-miler despite the finger surgery!
That's got to be a major blow for Phil. He trained so much for this race, and had such high expectations. I hope he'll share some of his thoughts with us.
Today's 11 miler on base (just completed) leaves me feeling very accomplished: I felt good. I got somewhat tired, but never felt in too much pain or too exhausted. I'd like to put in a fair amount of mileage like that over the winter, to get ready for LPRM.
I think that Phil should consider the LPRM for his next try at a BQ marathon.
I was thoroughly impressed by Shane's performance. I wouldn't have expected such a good result from him. I think he said it was his first 5k in a year and he's been running about 20 miles per week recently, but a lot of it speedwork.
Perry, what do you think of you run considering you came from the back? Did it give you strength to run a paced race and work your way up or do you think the ending might have gone differently if you could have run with those guys from the start?
I'd guess I could have caught them* earlier and tried to break away earlier. But I don't know -- when I got up there, I was pretty interested to see if Paul could take second; I was shocked to find him up there. He ran 22 low at the track 5000 last summer (I looked it up).
Of course he is a freshman, and large improvements are typical for them.
MTA:
*them = that front-behind-DR group of 4-5 guys, who stayed together most of the way. Alec (in flag shorts) dropped off just before Hogaboom, and I think someone else dropped off a bit earlier, and I finally joined (caught up) just before Alec dropped, I think.
I did get a slow start, and decided to draft Stick to move up, and then got a bit boxed in til the end of Hogaboom. Also I chatted with Greg when I caught him, until he mentioned that he'd already raced that morning--then I went ahead & pulled away from him. I expected to run it negative split after that start, and my splits reflect that: 6:04, 6:00, 5:46
In short:
While I'd feared that a lack of training and soggy weather would lead to an abysmal time at Step By Step, special motivation from Greg Imhof had compelled me to a decent race. Well, I'd had plenty more time to train for the Historic St. Mary's CityThanksgiving 5k, and there'd be plenty more competitive motivation present this time, so surely things would go superbly.
The race commenced for me exactly like most 5ks I've run in the past few years have: a sub-5:00/mi blast off pace that gradually tapered off (I was alarmed to look back upon turning right onto Rosecroft and behold a serious chase pack of 4-5 guys, including Perry and Shane) until my opening mile split ended up being 5:30 (mile 1 was 5:29 at CAASA). Yet at soon as that first mile was knocked off, things became different. Keeping a narrowly sub-6:00/mi pace was turning into a struggle! I hoped to pick steam back up after the U-turn (shortly after which I determined that my lead was relatively safe), but it got worse. For about half of the 3rd mile, the lap pace on my Foreunner was hovering a few seconds over 6:00. It was only as the left turn back onto Hogaboom loomed that I finally pushed it back under 6:00. Miles 2 and 3 were both 5:56! My 17:47 finish time was a 48-second slow down from last year (when I cracked 17:00 by a split second, literally ... 16:59).
Though it may have been a simply been a not so speedy Saturday for me, I suspect that the longterm effects of marginal mileage and reliance on the treadmill are catching up to me. It was in fact my first outdoor running since the previous race 3 weekends before. No doubt my lungs could've used a lot more adjustment to the frigid air (not to mention harshly hard pavement!). Oh well, it was still a turkey of a win!
The young Ben Aris ran both days this weekend.
13-14 yo mile at USATF Natls at Prince George's: http://www.usatf.tv/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=45365&mgroup_event_id=5517&year=2015&do=videos&video_id=137064
I watched the video and it is a good race to watch. He is the small blonde haired kid who goes out with the lead pack.
He ran 4:49 this morning at the NY Armory in the indoor mile.
Very fast for not yet being in HS, I think.
He is faster than I am now, I am pretty sure. Especially from that mile time!
The question I keep having is whether he's related to Bill Aris, the head coach at Fayeteville-Manlius High School in New York. I wasn't sure the last name was a coincidence when his name popped up a few years ago.