Wow, what a busy week! I haven't had any time all week to do this race update on the Triangle Run/Walk for Autism until now (while multitasking watching my Thursday TV shows). So here it goes....It was an unseasonably humid and warm day so I knew it may not be my best race. But truthfully before the day of the race I hadn't really thought much about the actual race and any time goals. I also wasn't training for a 5K since I am still focused on the NYC Marathon coming up on Nov 1st. But I decided that I'd try to run as many of the races in the Second Empire Series as I could as long as they didn't get in the way of marathon training. I skipped the first one, the Magnificent Mile, so I could do my long training run. But I did manage to run the second race in the series, Anna's Angels 10 miler. So this race was next on the list and raises money for a great cause. I registered for the race and created a fundraising web page, where some very generous friends donated money. So before the race even started, I felt pretty good that we had been able to do something good.
I arrived at the race pretty early since I hadn't had time to pick up the race package beforehand. I had time to wander around and relax before the race. I will get my infamous port-a-potty review over first...well planned, enough potties for everyone, well placed, great potty planning! ;-). So far I'd say this race is the winner for best "race potty of the year" if there were to be such an award. Ok, now onto other topics...
Before meeting up with any of my RTR friends, I saw Brad from NCRC before the race and met Ronnie, a friend of his. We chatted a bit about the upcoming ATT 10 Miler. I really wanted to run that one this year but decided in the end it was probably a bit too close to the marathon (the weekend before) and I shouldn't do it. Plus by now the race was closed. But Brad mentioned they were still looking for volunteers and I told him I'd been thinking about that since I had never volunteered at a race. Afterwards Sarah and I decided it would be fun and a great way to give back if we both volunteered for the race and brought Owen and Mia. So provided it's not pouring rain which wouldn't be good for the kiddies, we'll be there at the 4/6 mi water stop so maybe we'll see some of you there!
Shortly after that I met up with the RTR folks, Sarah, Rich, Herb, Linda, Dan, Tracy, and Jeff. I also spotted a few other familiar faces in the crowd. I did some warming up with the RTR folks since it seemed to help me in the 10 mile race a few weeks prior. It was then that someone asked what our goals were for the race. Sarah mentioned her goal was around a 7 min mile. I said mine was somewhere around or just under there as well but that secretly (which I guess then at that point became not so secret) I'd like to run a 6:45 pace in a 5K at some point soon. That would definitely be a PR but I wasn't initially thinking about aiming for that today, that is until someone brought it up and then I started considering it. By then it was time to head over to the starting line. Now not only was it humid and warm, but it was also getting sunny (uggh I hate sunny). At at least it was a short race!
As the race started, I took off pretty fast. I felt pretty good and for some reason was kind of delusional and started thinking I could keep up that pace or at least close to it. I could actually still see some of the women who I know are pretty fast (you know who you are!) and thought hey maybe I can try to keep up. It was "only" a 5K afterall, not a 10 mile race. Yeah, right! After all these years of running, you'd think I'd get it by now. Going out way too fast is not good no matter how long or short the race is.
My recent race strategy, which has worked pretty well, has been to do the first mile or two a bit faster than my average goal pace. This gets me moving, gets me out up front, and gives me a bit of a head start on my goal. If I run a bit faster than my ultimate goal pace for the first mile I can stress a bit less later in the race about hitting it. Key word I forgot in this race...a BIT faster. Not CRAZY faster. Well, there is a big difference between a bit faster and a crazy faster pace. And I went out in this one with a crazy fast pace for me...6:21 for the first mile! I have never run under 21 minutes for a 5K so there really wasn't any basis for me to think that pace was sustainable, which I really didn't think it was, but I didn't think that I'd slow down so significantly in the next 2 miles. On paper it doesn't seem that bad. The second mile was 6:59 so still pretty good but I was VERY tired in that second mile. My legs were tired, even more than they were running a 10 mile race. So lesson learned (or re-learned)...going out WAY too fast isn't something that you can recover from, particularly in a short fast race on a warm, humid day.
I was so tired that I felt the race was lasting forever. I couldn't wait to get to the end for it to be over. I wanted to speed things up in the last mile but it was really hard by that point to recover from that first mile and there wasn't really anyone that was within reach that I could use to help pace myself. I could still see Sarah in front of me but knew I didn't have enough left to try to catch up so I just did my best to give it as much as I had left. The second half of the race seemed much hillier than it probably was. But you can tell from the elevation profile (I know, Garmin geek!) the first half of the race was actually downhill and the second was uphill. Perhaps that would have been good to look into before I took off blazing fast and then ran out of steam! My pace for the last mile was 7:13. Again, not bad but definitely not close to the average pace of under 7 min miles I've run in the last few 5Ks.
In the end I came in 63 of 693 overall, 11 of 351 women, and 4 of 56 in my age group. My overall average pace was 6:49 according to my Garmin, and my final chip time was 21:12. A definite PR for the 5K (I wasn't sure at first so had to look it up), so I felt good about that. And as a bonus, since the first 6 overall male and female runners received awards instead of the usual top 3 or 5, I placed 3rd in my age group, instead of 4th, and got an award. It was not only the standard $10 gift card to a local running store but in addition a beautiful hand painted plate made by a young autistic artist. In fact I was going to leave right after the results were posted since Owen had a soccer game, but I decided to stick around for a few more minutes because I saw how unique the awards were for this race. The gift card, no doubt, will allow me to get a new pair of socks but the plate will always remind me of the race. Yes, I went out too fast and couldn't wait to finish. But I reminded myself of a valuable lesson that no doubt will help me in future races, I got to see my running friends, I ran a PR, and I helped raise money for a great cause.
I would still like to hit that 6:45 pace and a 5K under 21 minutes. I am sure I'll do it sometime soon. If not this year, then perhaps next year, once I have more time to train for speed rather than distance. No rush but it will be really great when it happens!
Next race, Run for Healthier Babies 5K in Morrisville on Oct 25th. Maybe I'll see some of you there!
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