Notes
The course is a net downhill for the first half and then you turn around and run back the way you came. My goal was to open up in 4:50, hit the turn around at 7:30ish and then push the uphills hard and finish under 15:30. Before the race, I saw Festus Chemaoi, who was a tough runner from MTSU. Before I saw him, I thought I would have an easy win but with him now being in the race, I was definitely nervous and feeling some pressure.
When the race was about to start, I looked around and didn't see him. The gun went off, and I thought he missed the start or something. I took it out relaxed for the first couple of hundred meters and then got in my groove. I hit the start of the greenway in 52 seconds and ran the next half mile just under 2:25. I looked over my shoulder and saw Festus about 6-7 seconds behind me. I continued to push and hit the mile in 4:50 with him just behind me. My plan was to keep with that rhythm until the turnaround, hoping he was winded from catching up and then try and drop him on the hills.
We crossed the street to the other side of the greenway and there was a table with a cone to the left of it. I tried to confirm that it was the turnaround point, but the volunteers told me we had to keep on running straight. I figured that was wrong and told Festus that. We kept running side-by-side and at 10 minutes, I told them there was no way we were running the right way but he wanted to continue. After a couple of more miles, we decided to turnaround and head back the way we came. When we passed the turnaround point, I told the kids that they sent us the wrong way, and their reply was that last time the course went straight (that's for the 10k race in the fall, not the 5k one.)
Festus and I just jogged until we hit the finish and I finished in 132nd place with a time of 32 something. Several other people went the wrong way as well and the winning guy was over 19 minutes. It's frustrating to run a race and not have the race volunteers at the course turnaround point to not know that was the turnaround point. Last year, there was at least a cone in the middle of the road, but this year, the cone was on the far right side of the road, right in front of the table, which made it look like it just marked the table.
I really wanted to get in a hard session because Crazy 8's is in two weeks. I can tell I need a little more aerobic power, so I'll address that in my training. Frustrating day.