Notes
Beacon Bolt 5K
Piney Point Elementary School
Tall, Timbers, MD
This week’s race schedule took me to a rural elementary school in St. Mary’s County for a flat and fast 5K held to raise funds for the school’s technology budget.
Similar to last week’s festivities at the Azalea Classic, the crowd was smaller but just as enthusiastic with a DJ playing tunes and getting runners in the mood. I spotted a few local runners I’d seen at previous races.
The course started in front of the school and went out and back down a country highway. The course was marked and had support from the local sheriff’s department.
As runners left the school grounds and headed out on the road, the field quickly shook out and I believe most people in front of me (10 or so) held their position for the entirety of the race. I used a runner in front of me by 10-12 seconds as my guide for the race, and really never closed the gap.
I found a rhythm and pace during the first mile and felt like I was holding together well. I started feeling the burn after the second mile and wondered when the torture would stop haha! Fortunately, I was able to keep up my pace and finished strong in 23:16.
I am getting closer to my goal of a sub-23 minute 5K and ultimately I want to get under 22 minutes. But still plenty of work to do to reach those goals.
I don’t have any 5K races scheduled right now – focusing on the half marathon races in May - but there are a couple in mid and late June that I will probably register for and gauge my progress.
Splits:
Mile 1 – 7:29
Mile 2 – 7:43
Mile 3 – 7:30
Last Little Bit – 0:32
Good times and fun race!