Notes
Good Race.
Difficult to gage from year to year with varied competition and so many walkers/joggers in the mix. Couple that with the a new course and shorter distance it was even more difficult.
Tanner's 1st race since regionals and we both weren't going to be too ambitious, but we also knew after the gun goes off it is difficult to hold back. I'm confident I'll do better than a 7:30 pace, but 7:00 may not be possible with the hill.
At the start, we definitely found ourselves weaving in and out of the traffic of joggers. Almost the entire 1st mile is a gradual downhill with a few short steep drops, so I'm looking at my watching thinking "6:15...ya, that's about right because it will all balance out when I hit Balboa hill". I pass a runner dressed as Ron Burgandy and group of 5-6 young men tossing a football as they run. After a 6:18 first mile, I see I'm on the flat and still around 6:20 and mentally I'm feeling a little uncomfortable knowing it's a 5 mile race, but I feel physically strong and so I stick with the 6:20 pace, then Grandview to Balboa hits and I feel like I'm running in mud up to my calves. I can't keep the pace at all and even though it's only the last .2 of the 2nd mile...I drop from 6:20 to 6:38 pace, but still feeling very good as I finish off the hill and hit the flat toward the end of the first of the 2.5 mile loop.
I watch the pace on my watch drop from 9:00 to 8:45 to 8:30 to 8:10 to 7:45 and ended on the downhill and clipped it down to 7:21. But so disappointing after the first 2 miles. Hell of a hill. A lot of 2.5 mile runners and so I find myself running almost alone, but passing a few along the way. Have my eye on 3 runners in the distance: Orange, black and orange and a female runner who is the closest. After the downhill and hitting the flat again, I'm really taking advantage of tangents and I don't see anyone else doing it. I catch the girl just before mile 4 and give her encouragement telling her to get me back on the hill. Walkers everywhere and harder to hit tangents as I approach the hill, but I feel I can catch orange and orange and black.
The hill feels more like a wall this time and takes up most of the final mile. I feel I'm gaining, but it's hard to gauge. As I approach the final part of the hill a kid zips past me, then on the straight away an even younger kid (I'd say 16) gets past me and I relax a little remembering my PF problems and not risking an injury the final .25. I run hard, but can't catch either one back. I end up 6 sec behind the 16 year old, but we are crossing the finishing line passing about 200 walkers from the 2.5 mile race. It's crazy.
I look at my watch and think, "Damn...close to the 7:00 pace. Should have pushed a little more."
I never really saw Tanner after the start. He said his first mile was at 5:30. We both did well enough to make the "first page" of runners.
Tanner 6/18 24/175 29/351 33:54
Turns out the orange and black runner ahead of me was in my age division. 2 years younger, but had a good talk with him about marathons. Turns out he ran the same 2 I did this year (Grandma's and DSM). He ran 3:15 and 3:11 and today I was about 16 seconds behind him. He gave me a book title that changed his marathon training for the best and injury free . Run Less, run faster (3 day a week training program). I may try it after I do my 2000 miles to finish off this year.
Day off Friday and race to win a Christmas ham in Sigourney on Saturday morning. I won the ugly sweater 5K last year, but there were no official times or awards. May be more competition with more advertising, but I'll bring Tanner along for a better shot at it. Anxious to run a 5K again, but not expecting a lot just 2 days after the Turkey Trot.