short version

IRC

21:56 new 5K PR by 30 seconds

very long version for a short race

Background info: DW volunteers at least once a year as a physician on an international medical abroad mission usually through local churches. This summer she accompanied a group from Southern Nazarene University to Swaziland. SNU and the Nazarene church of Bethany have been involved in this project in Swaziland for several years. As one of their fundraisers for defraying some of the cost of sending volunteers, purchasing medical supplies and medical equipment, they scheduled this inaugaral 5k for this fall. More info here: SNU and BNC. So, this race has been on my schedule since this summer. However, I am curently training for the Marine Corps Marathon at the end of October and had no business racing a 5K two weeks out from it so I had just planned on running it as tempo run. That all changed last weekend with my half-marathon. In it, I beat the young physician (and one of my regular running buddies) at DW's clinic by 2 minutes. He immediately challenged me to rematch in this 5K. Hey, a challenge is a challenge. And as Opie (from KR) can verify, I fully expected him to beat me at this shorter distance. Still there was a chance I could take him at even this shorter distance. I did stick to my training plan for the day as best I could though. Planning on a 5K warmup run on the course, then the 5K race, followed by a 12 mile run down to the lake and back. I invited Opie to join me on this adventure thinking he would be wise and defer.

Pre-race: No problems getting to the race as it is <10 miles from my house. Opie called as I was pulling in the parking lot, he was already there and ready for a warmup run. Weather was perfect, very light North breeze with temperature of 40 degrees. We went for a nice very easy paced warmup run along the course. A very flat, somewhat serpentine course that ran through the neighborhoods north of SNU. As we were finishing up we saw the challenger and one of my regular running buddies doing the same, so we ran a bit more. Then we wound our way back to the start area and lined up.

The plan: The challenger wanted to break 22 minutes in a 5K for the first time since college. Since my best 5K is a 22:27, I knew I was out of my league and just hoped to hang on at a ~7 minute/mile pace for as long as I could.

The race: We lined up near the front, the gun sounded and we were off. I lost sight of the challenger in the crowd, but as we rounded the first corner we were side by side. I stuck with him for a block or so, looked down at my Garmin and saw our pace was 6:15/mile, knew I couldn't keep that up, and told him I was backing down to 7:00/mile. He smiled at me and said, "Paul, I feel good, I'm going for it at this pace." I wished him luck and dialed my pace back a bit. Since the course was flat, I was able to keep him in sight for much of the race. After he pulled away, I fell in with a group of four runners that was spot-on for the pace I felt I could hold for 3 more miles. The race was pretty uneventful, we passed quite a few fading runners around the 2 mile mark, then after that it was just focus on holding pace. As we rounded the last corner for the finish, the group picked up the pace as we sprinted to the finish. Alas, I finished 3 out of 4 in this little pace group. I could not believe my Garmin. I had finished sub 22:00. A 30 second PR. Unbelievable after just finishing sub 22:30 for the first time last month ( a 20 second PR then). The challenger finsihed with a 20:47 and was there to greet and congratulate me at the finish. Opie behaved himself and did not race, but he still had a fine 5K.

The race was a blast. A little competition spiced things up nicely. For an inaugaral race, the organizers did a fantastic job. Plenty of volunteers at the start/finish and along the course. They had a huge feeding station at the end, that was as good as some marathons. Door prizes, nice trophies/medals for winners and AG placers. Looks like they had about 300 in the 5K. Not sure how many in the 1 mile walk. I visited with the race director and she was beaming at the success and how much money they had raised. I congratulated her on a job very well done.

After the race: The four of us then did a nice easy run down to the lake, around and back for 12.4 miles. A beautiful day for running. Thanks Opie or running with me.

Thanks for reading.

Paul

mta: one of the runners in the group of 3 that finished just ahead of me was in my AG and kept me out of the 3rd for AG. Arrggh.

Ahhh....so close on the AG. But great race.

I love 5k's !  Great job on dialing back the pace. It allowed you a strong finish.

Nice job, Paul. Sounds like you are ready to make a new 5K PR next time you are ready to race the distance.

The Challenger – I love it...

Congratulations on your PR!  And for a good cause, as well.  Excellent race and report!

You're in fine shape for MCM.  I'm hoping for a great race there for you.

Good job, pfriese.  You sure did well with your new PR.  Meeting up with opie and having a challenger to spur you on helped make it a great day.  Congratulations.

TomS