Stupid computer. I had this all typed up earlier and then my computer decided to shut down with no notice to install updates. Lesson learned, use the handy-dandy save feature in Word.

Summary

Sunday I ran the Honeygo 5k in 26:18. 2^nd place AG

Background

This is my sixth year doing this race which benefits the Baltimore County police explorers.   The first year I found the race by accident, there was a banner hanging on the pedestrian bridge over the road. The convenience can’t be beat; it’s less than 3 miles from home.  This year the race was much smaller than past year, only 86 finishers.

My main goal was to run a relatively even race. My 5ks have sucked this year. It’s been somewhat demoralizing to run a half PR and then watch my 5k times get slower. C goal was just get back under 27 minutes, B was under 26:30, which was what I thought my time was on the same course in March (I should have looked  it up, I actually ran 26:26) and A was under 25:50 (last year’s time). I was also counting on the fact that since the RM company has used this course for the last 3 years, it would actually be a true 5k; last 3 “5ks” I did were 2.8 miles, 3.24 miles and 2.1 miles.

I move really slow in the morning, so I didn’t get there as early as I wanted to. I got my ankle bracelet with timing chip, did a mile warm up and then was able to get to the bathrooms before the line hit. On the plus side, since the race starts & ends at Perry Hall High School, we get to use indoor facilities. The downside is that there are only 2 stalls in the women’s faculty restroom that was open. Who in the heck designed that—most schools have way more women than men.  It was rather chilly, probably upper 30s-low 40s. I had on long sleeves and tights, as did all but maybe 5 or 6 runners.  My plan was to try to run even effort, but try to push the pace on the downhills—I think I did this right so you can view the course in my log. The hills look way more menacing on the little graph than they do in person.

Mile 1 8:48

The race is an out and back. The high school sits little back from the road and it a lower, which meant the early part of the race was uphill. My legs were really cold and I felt really sluggish. Maybe a ¼ mile in I looked at my watch and saw I was in the low 9s. Ugh. Not where I wanted to be. I started to feel a bit better on the downhill, but it felt like I was working way harder than the pace I was running.

Mile 2 8:34

This is a weird mile on the course.  It seems like it is basically go ½ mile uphill, turnaround and then come back down. There is a bit of a dip, so it isn’t a continual climb, just seems that way. As the leaders started coming back, I started counting women. Much to my surprise, there were only 5 in front of me at that point. So new goal was not to get passed by any women.

Mile 3 8:29, last .1 6:53 pace

I just wanted it to be over. When we made the turn on the road back to the high school, it seemed like I was gaining ground on the 5^th place women (it turns out she was in the 20-29 AG). Then we started up the slight hill and nope.  Wasn’t happening.  At the end of the uphill, I started trying to speed up. Then when the school came into site, I tried to speed up a little more, at that point there was just less than ¼ mile. I came around the final corner and saw that while last year’s time was out of reach, I still had a good shot at meeting my B goal.

Final Thoughts

Still not thrilled that my times have not improved, but at least this race seemed to be a step in the right direction. I know this was the only time this year mile 3 was my fastest mile.

I need to figure out a better way to warm up in the cold. Ok, so it was upper 30s, low 40s, still, I was cold for a good part of the first mile.

Congrats on the AG placement!  Nice splits and RR as well.

I've always thought that placement was as important as the finish time itself. I think you ran a solid race. Congratulations!

While times are important, and I do pay a lot of attention to times, racing is what it's all about. The competition makes you run harder. A nice thing about out and back courses is you can see where the competition is. Can't always tell what AG, but that doesn't really matter in the race, only when passing out awards.

It takes 5K preparation to run one well, not just the endurance from HM training. 6 weeks of dedicated training for a 5K and you'd be ready for a PB race.

Congrats on the AG award!