Notes
Had a nice w/u that included 3.1 miles of the race course and 2x1 at interval pace. Finished w/u about 10 minutes prior to the start. I lined up in the front of the pack, hoping not to get blocked in by any of the slower runners. The start was kind of wierd - the starter said we were going to start when the police car siren went off. We were all expecting him to say "runners on your mark," but the siren went off out of no where and everyone was confused for a second or so until someone shouted "just go." So we started.
For the first 1.5 miles, I was running in the front with 4 guys at a 5:40 pace as it was flat to a rolling downhill. Towards the end of mile 1, two other guys caught up and the seven of us all ran the next .8 of a mile together. We were challenged by a hill that stretched for about .7 of a mile. After the hill, I found myself all alone - 4 guys were leading the pack and the other 2 guys dropped off. The hill definitely cost me some time. After mile 2, my time was 11:45. Going into the last mile, I was feeling the effects of the hill. The majority of the last mile was a slight uphill and after mile 3 my time was 17:47. My goal was to finish at 18:00 minutes, which meant I only had 13 seconds to finish the last tenth of a mile. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen and I finished in 56 seconds to complete the race at 18:43 (although my garmin said 18:37), so not sure which one was accurate.
I managed to get 1st in my age group and 5th overall, but I was a little dissapointed that I didn't get the 18 minutes I was going for. However, I was still able to to get a PR and beat my previous best by almost 2 minutes. The race was alot of fun although I feel that I ran only a semi-smart race. I knew the hill in mile 2 was going to cost me a few seconds, but I wasn't expecting to run a 6.04 for mile 3. (dammit)
Lesson learned-- I need more 5k experience!!
Splits:
5:38
6:05
6:04
.56
Goal for my 5k next month = even pacing throughout and 18 minutes or better
http://www.hermescleveland.com/roadracing/events/strongsvillesupersat.asp