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11/22/2018

9:00 AM

5 km

16:11

5:13 mi

Race Result

8 / 7162 (0.1%)
2 / 343 (0.6%)
8 / 3602 (0.2%)

Notes

GOOD race, definitely proud of this one. 2/3 of the way to sub 16, just couldn't quite (mentally?) push through that headwind on that 3rd mile, but definitely happy with it. More later.

I wanted to do this race for years! It's the biggest and most competitive 5k in the area with more than 7k finishers and typically a lot of depth up front. This was the first year I was both in the area and in shape so I jumped at the opportunity. It's been a long time since I have been in a truly competitive 5k so I was looking forward to really racing guys and hopefully use the competition to run FAST.

I had a lot of confidence going into this one and in hindsight I'm not really sure why! JICR was good but not amazing, and OVH was only good if the course was actually long, which was a dicey assumption. And I knew that, but I still was going to go for it. Goals were top 10 (reasonable but you never know who will be there) and sub 16 (stretch!).

Got out reasonably cleanly on the first mile and got after it feeling good. Only glanced at my watch around 0.6mi to make sure I wasn't being too unreasonable, but otherwise just kept on moving and feeling out the race around me. I ended up with a group of about 3 or 4 others including Eric Ashton and the top female. I figured Eric was going to be around where I wanted to finish so I was determined to stick with him. Came through at 5:06 on the course clock. The group kept shuffling a bit but at around halfway I could feel the pace lagging a little bit so I went to the front and made a push. Passed 2 at 10:18 so 16' still on the table if I could just pick up a little, but when we turned on to King we were met with a persistent headwind. It wasn't horrible, but it certainly slowed me down... though the effects may have been more mental than physical. Eric and another guy (Zachary Smith I guess) caught me back somewhere around 2.5 and I somewhat guiltily tucked in behind them. I was tired and not feeling great but they weren't losing me, which gave me the confidence to make one last push around 400 out, going past both and holding them off, finishing in 8th.

Really nothing bad to say about this. I was aggressive, I RACED, I didn't completely fall apart when things slipped a bit, and I ran with confidence. Sure, I probably could have shaved one or two seconds here or there with more even pacing or whatever else, but I'm not worrying about that. I consider this at least my best road 5k (though officially ran 1s faster on an uncertified course), and it comes after what I'd previously consider very unremarkable training. The past few months have really changed my perspective on training, easy runs, etc. Granted, who knows what I would have run with the same competition, course, etc. at other points in the past few years with different training, but for now I'm sticking with what works.

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