Executive Summary: 25:35, good enough for a PR, 2/20 AG, and 10/56 OA.

Longer version: I ran today's 5K instead of the 4 mile time trial that my Pfitz HM plan calls for.  I have to admit that I'm no good at 5Ks, and I wonder to what extent that has become a self-fulfilling prophecy.  I only ran 2 last year, and both had course issues (one was 1/4 mile long, the other 1/4 mile short, hehe), so my PR was from 2012.  From how racing and training has been going, I should have been set up to obliterate it.  My goal was sub-25, but was thinking that even 24:20 might be possible.

The race was about 40 minutes from my house, down in Eugene, OR.  I got there plenty early and did a 3 mile warmup with 4 sets of strides.  Right away I noticed that the start was very narrow and the path was torn up by tree roots.  I'd need to get out early and be careful of my footing.

Luckily, it was a small enough race (56 finishers) that it was really a non-issue.  I passed a couple people at the start, then settled into 10th place, and stayed there for the whole race.  The group just ahead of me seemed out of reach, and the woman behind me was keeping an even distance too.  And, as I usually do in a 5K, I had a tough time really finding that extra gear or competitive drive.

I spent the whole race having an argument with my legs.  It was something like this:

Me: Come on, we're past the bumpy part at the start, time to pick it up now.

Legs: No.

Me: But we told all of those people on the internet what our goal was.  They will find out that I'm not really a good runner.

Legs: Too bad.  You should have asked us first what our goal was for today.

Me: How about we just try a little surge to see what it feels like?

Legs: How about no?

Me: We could just try to up the cadence, not the pace, just to see if that helps?

Legs: What part of "no" don't you understand?  We don't want to!  We don't have to!  You'll get your PR anyway at this pace, you know.

Me: Maybe after the first mile we could speed up?

Legs: How about running the second mile two seconds faster?  That's faster, right?

Me: OK, now we're halfway.  And you're not even hurting.  We should speed up.

Legs: But look, it's a footbridge!  And there are some people walking and fishing and stuff!  We have to be careful!

Me: Just one mile to go.  And I think the girl behind me might be catching up.

Legs: We saw you check, and no she's not.  But we are willing to run this mile 5 seconds faster than last one.  You should be thankful.

Me: Look, that girl way up ahead is walking.  She might even be in our AG.  Maybe we can catch her!
Legs: Not before she gets to the finish line, you won't.

And so on.  It was pretty much a time trial anyway since my closest "competition" was 30 sec ahead of me and 30 sec behind.  The people ahead of me were just close enough that at least I could see where to turn since the rain had blurred some of the course markings.

My splits were 8:15, 8:13, 8:08, and the final .13 at an 8:02 pace.  Then for the 3 seconds before I realized that I had only hit "lap" instead of pausing my watch, I was apparently standing still at a 4:20 pace! 

It still is fun to race down in Eugene.  We ran past the big "Track Town USA" mural.  And getting an AG award in a race down there, even a teeny tiny one, is definitely enjoyable!

They had a live jazz band and some Chinese food (all fried) out, which was nice, but I couldn't even imagine eating a bunch of fried food at that point, so I just ran a 1 mile cool down and headed home.

I have a 10 miler in 2 weeks that I'm hoping to run only about 20 seconds/mile slower that what I ran today (according to my Garmin pace, not race clock pace), because I do think I'm in better shape than my results show.  My VDOT tends to increase with race distance (mostly because I've never run a full, hehe), so I'm not going to panic and pitch everything because of one slowish race today.  I'll also probably take a couple of easy days before my 10 miler, maybe even a RD or two, which I didn't do this week.

Great job!  And LOL at your conversation with your legs.

GREAT SPLITS!  Sounds like you ran a great race despite the argument with your legs.   Well done!

Congrats on a great race. PR and AG award are nice bennies!

If you were no good at 5ks you would not have got a PR. You want a PR? Just wait until your HM. THAT is the RR I am waiting for!  Eugene is a cool town and someday I hope to run there. Good work, Zel.

Congrats Zel! Great race!

Congrats on the PR, even if it wasn't your dream race.  Racing on dead legs is a real challenge.  I really got a smile at your conversation with your legs.  Very funny and so true.   Our head and hearts are  full of ambition and dreams and our legs are "You crazy.  I hate Pfitz.  Can we go home now?"

A PR, an AG award and an awesome overall ranking. It can't get any better! Congratulations, Zelanie! I laughed at your dialogue with your legs. Stubborn little things, aren't they?  But you know what? They still gave you negative splits, so be proud of them!