Notes
Chappaqua 5k! First time doing one of the Chap races in several years, and first time ever doing the "half 10k" option. Really fun, low-stakes way to get on a start line after too long. I was a bit surprised in myself in how, though I wasn't "nervous", I definitely felt a bit of extra energy and tension the morning of and especially on arrival. Clearly some excitement at being back in a race environment -- which makes me all the more glad that I started out here in such a comfy, low-stakes place.
Race itself went largely as expected. There was one other guy who looked serious at the start, but I saw right away he had a 10k bib, so no stress there. He took off at the start and hammered the first quarter mile, opening a gap of ~30m. Already by the end of that quarter we'd also left the rest of the field firmly behind. He then slowed slightly and we matched pce for the next half mile or so, at which point I started slowly reeling him back in. I caught him just after Kipp, and eased ahead by a bit just before we split paths and he headed up Hardscrabble for the 10k. Not entirely an even matchup given he had twice as far to go, but still felt good to have taken back the "overall" lead before we diverged. After that I was solo for the rest of the race, though it was fun on the 5k getting to double back on the course and get some support from folks still heading out. Slight confusion when I got back to Town Hall bc they'd moved the finish line, but otherwise easy.
Final time was a bit slower than I'd hoped (having somewhat arbitrarily set a target of sub-17 for the day), but can probably be mostly attributed to 1) still early days in introducing true workouts to the cycle, 2) the hills in the first half being a little more substantial than I always give them credit for, and 3) maybe a bit of having gone out so fast? (Probably less of (3) ).
All in all a really fun morning out, and really enjoyed getting to do the whole experience. Also excited to keep doing more of these with hopefully a bit more frequency.