Notes
Although this event was a 5K, a small wrong turn I made about 2.25 miles in added an extra bit of distance. Also, gmapping the course suggested it might be a touch too long. Anyway, made effort to get the most accurate pacing. The race was all on the paths around Artesani Park and just the other side of the Charles river. The course is mapped here (including the little wrong turn I took near Elliot Bridge) http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4505519. Official results posted here http://coolrunning.com/results/11/ma/May14_6thAnn_set1.shtml . I think the guy immediately in front of me should be listed at 18:xx, not 17:xx. (I finished immediately behind him in the chute)
Before the race, I was very stiff on the early parts of the warm up. I loosened up and tightened my shoes to get my ankles feeling a bit less wobbly. My right calf was still feeling sore and I tried to massage it out, but I knew it wouldn't enjoy the race too much. Kailee held onto my stuff as I drank lots of water, got changed down, and did a few strides. There was a 3 man team of "Mullet Marathoners" who turned up dressed in hilarious 80s costumes, including music playing out of their fanny packs. They finished last in the team race! Awesome.
Splits were 1 mile 5:45, 2 mile 11:35. Either the 2 mile was a little too close, or the course was a little too long along with my own silly detour. Pace for the last 1.1 would've been 6:11/mile if all these times were accurate.
Anyway, I started off not too fast, just squeezing my way past those who shouldn't have been right up front to begin with. I watched a group of 5-6 guys get up in the lead group, with a couple falling off after maybe 800m or so and going back pretty fast. Eventually, a group of 4 remained, with a guy in a Cambridge University jersey falling apart at 1.5 miles. Anyway, I worked my way pretty easily up from maybe 8-10th to 5-6th. As I passed the last guy who was pretty close, right around mile 1, I felt a guy not too far behind me. I realized he wasn't really passing me nor falling off, so I opted to let him ahead of me so I could draft off him for a while. When Kailee spotted us across the river, she said we were running basically stride for stride and I could hear her cheer off in the distance. Going through the 2-mile mark, I told him the split and introduced myself-- figured I'd be nice! When I felt his pace drop off slightly coming toward the bridge, I put the hammer down a bit and told myself to keep it up for 30 seconds and he'd be gone. Maybe because I was focused on the surge, I continued to follow the bike path when I guess I should've taken the sidewalk. However, it was terribly marked there and I don't really think it was that silly of a mistake in the end. However, when I noticed my mistake I called out to Danny (the guy I'd been running next to) and said "sorry!" because I'd lead him astray. When I got back up on the path, I had fallen back a couple of places and pushed myself back hard for the next quarter mile to get into a similar position. I struggled mentally to get back into 5th place, and nearly caught the flagging 4th place Cambridge jersey guy. In the end, if I hadn't taken a wrong turn I'm sure I would've ended up one place further ahead. I kicked as strong as I could the last 250m, but it wasn't really enough to get me by him. I felt the mental struggle the last 1200m, trying to recover from the wrong turn and the tiredness of the race. Again in this race I could feel the tired burn in my shins and calves; they clearly aren't too happy about running in race conditions.
After trying to be really honest with the true length I ran today, it seems as if I ran REALLY even pacing -- 5:45, 5:50, and 5:45 avg for the last 1.18 (or whatever it was, very close to there anyway). It would convert to an 18-flat 5K.
In the end, I wish I'd had enough mental/physical energy left to catch that last guy. Overall, I had fun and despite the moments where I felt some mental weakness, I snapped out of it pulled through pretty well. On the whole I was really happy with the result, and I was really glad that Kailee came out to this race and that she seemed to enjoy herself. It was great to have my supporter on the sidelines!