Ran this local 5K in 18:16 which was good enough to give me the overall win. Obviously it was a small race -- only about 100 finishers which you'd expect on a Sunday morning -- but I ran pretty well and was pleased with my effor and with the fact that I maintained pace well. I felt tired during warm-up, not surprising as I was up late with the family watching "Amistad" and then got up at 4:30 to watch London Marathon (which was well worth giving up a few hours of sleep to see!). But once the race started I felt okay. No problem with the groin that had been sore early in the week.
Mile #1 (5:49): A mostly flat mile and another master (young 41-year-old guy) got out fast so I just kept him close until a small uphill at 3/4 where I pushed just a bit went by him. Then we made a turn and started a gradual downhill. I knew mile #2 had two significant uphill sections so I was planning to push those.
Mile #2 (5:56): Started out continuing gradual downhill then a little flat before a quarter mile uphill. I pushed the hill pretty well then after a brief flat section there was another (shorter) uphill and I continued to work fairly hard. I knew I had already built a decent lead but wanted to feel I had it won by 2 miles.
Mile #3 (5:56) + 0.1 (:35): This was flat for about 3/4 then there was a short, steep uphill followed by a bit of flat and then down to the finish, but that last bit was on a trail with two sharp turns. I just maintained my effort as evenly as possible and then pushed a bit at the end. Felt strong throughout but was pretty well spent by the finish.
Overall I'm pleased. I haven't been doing much 5K-oriented training in a long while so I certainly wasn't expecting a sub-18. But maybe there's hope I can improve on this a bit over the coming months.
(It's a bit depressing that I used to race 20K at this pace, but that was more than 20 years ago. I'm just glad to still be out there!) | 