Hello.

I did this race today basically for shits and giggles.  I am not in strong 5K shape (not my focus right now), and was just hoping to beat my previous 5K time of 21:07.  The race turned out to be a trail race.  I knew it was on "trails", but I thought they'd be like the paved rail trail I run on every day.  Nope, these were dirt trails.  They were fast trails as these things go, but trails nonetheless.

I went into this race with an "Eh, whatever" attitude.  Breaking 21 minutes would have been nice, but 25 minutes would have been fine too.  I ran 14 fast miles last night and didn't know what my legs would allow today.  Really, I just wanted a decent workout.

For a warm up, I jogged around for 1.5 miles and did a few strides to loosen my legs.  I lined up 15 minutes before gun time, near the front.  The first quarter mile is along a paved access road up a hill.  I got passed a lot right at the start and didn't give chase, but pretty much passed all of those people on the hill when they all slowed.  It was on this hill that I realized I had some jump in me today.  Right at the top of this hill, the course goes down a steep grass hill and into the woods, and thus begins the trail running.

I wasn't pushing hard.  The trails were narrow and I was behind some traffic.  I didn't care though...just cruising along and not at all worrying about passing people.  When the opportunity would present itself, I'd pass someone.  I passed a couple of guys at the one mile marker.  They were sucking wind.  I knew they wouldn't beat me.  I was uncomfortable but in control.  The trail was mostly flat but uneven and lumpy, as trails are.  There were sections of mud, wood chips, and gravel.  I didn't have to do too much of picking my way around things, but I had to pay attention to foot placement.

I passed a couple more people.  They'd look at me and try to match, but I'd just surge and leave them and then I'd settle back down.  From mile 1.5 on, I was pretty much alone.  There was one guy I was trying to reel in, and passed him around mile 2.  He was wearing an MCM shirt and I said "Alright...MCM...nice!"  He just grunted.  I knew he was toast.

For the last mile, I was just in cruise control and making sure nobody was gaining on me.  The turns in the trail gave me a couple of chances to see behind me.  I knew I wasn't going to pass anyone else but I also didn't want to get passed.  I didn't know where I was in the field, but I wasn't going to give up my spot up without a fight, just in case I was in AG contention.  I left some fuel in my reserves for just that.  I was ready to race if I had to.

The last quarter mile pops out of the woods for a loop around some paved paths.  I saw again that nobody was gaining on me.  With my placement locked in, I cruised it in to the finish line all alone.  I caught my breath after about 30 seconds and went right to the results tent (real time...nice).  Much to my delight, I finished 9th overall and 1st in my AG.

Final time was 20:52.  I wanted sub-21 and got that, so I was happy (PR is 20:42).  Really though the AG win was awesome, since this was only my second one.  My AG is tough and it's nice to grab a win.

Overall 9 / 296

M40-44 1 / 13  (would have won if they were 10 year AG's too)

Pace splits:  6:46, 6:40, 6:46, 6:24

I'm glad I decided to run this.  Only 10 seconds off my PR and on a trail course, and really not an all out painful 5K effort.  I should be able to break that PR on my next road race (Dec 7).  I wish I could quantify how much time I lose just due to the course being on trails, but my placement tells me I'm in a pretty good spot with my speed right now.  Two weeks until my marathon.

AG win was a five pound apple pie.  FRIKKIN SCORE!  They threw in a handheld too, which is cool since I use them.  Event hat instead of a shirt at this one.  More races should do that.

Coolstorybro.

Congratulations.  If you can do that well on dirt and without the push from competing directly against other runners in the last mile, your next race should be a good one.

Great confidence booster! Nice job!

NOT strong in the 5K and you did 20-something on dirt trails?  That sounds pretty darn strong to me!

Congrats on your 5K!

Sub-21 on a trail race on tired legs?  That's pretty awesome.  Congrats on the AG win and cool that you get free pie!

Seems as if you took it easy on this one (smartly) but gave a solid effort near tempo pace which will never hurt anything.

I am not sure how much you will have for your 5k 15 days removed from your marathon but good luck with both!

HOW WAS THE PIE?

The pie was good!  They were handing out slices after the race, so I had some before I knew I had won one.  DW doesn't care too much for apple pie, and I can only eat so much of a five pounder before it goes bad, so I brought it into work.  About half of it is gone so far.

And thanks for the comments on my race!  

Wow, you made that sound like the most leisurely sub-21 5k ever. Very impressive under the burden of marathon training load. But not too surprising as the level of fitness that developed put you in all kinds of great shape for shorter races.

And FTR, before I got sidelined there is a race I was planning to do this weekend, and they also give out hats. No pie that I am aware of, but it is the "Chocolate Run" and has a postrace buffet loaded with a wide variety of chocolate items. I was looking forward to it just for that.