New Charles River Run 5K

   

After my first marathon training cycle, I decided to start a new tradition:  Run a marathon, wait a few weeks, race a 5K.  It seemed to work for me last time when I set a 5K PR two weeks after Philly.  The 5K is my most dreaded distance but I seem to perform better when I’m fresh off the tails of a marathon.  After all, when you’ve just done 26.2, 3.1 feels awfully short.  Last time I did this, I ran a small 5K that didn’t use chip timing and my 25:12 finish turned into an “official” time of 25:28.  This time, I shopped around and located a flat course WITH chip timing.  No way was I losing any hard-earned seconds this time around.

The Charles River run is a 7.5M and a 5K race but the majority of people seemed to be doing the 7.5M.  It felt strange to do the shorter distance for once!  My goal for this race was to break an 8:00 pace.  It’s something I’ve never done, nor ever thought possible, really.  (Remember, I’m a slowpoke, people.)  It wasn’t until I ran the Harpoon 5(+) Miler at an 8:01 pace that I realized sub-8 should be attainable.

I lined up right at the 8 minute pace sign and prepared to attack my goal.  The gun went off and I did too.  There’s no pacing yourself in a race like this so I just ran at a speed that felt *just* bearable enough to hold for 3 miles.  I crossed my fingers that this would be under 8:00.  When I hit the one mile marker in 7:57 I knew I had timed it just right.  Also – woohoo!  My first ever full mile under 8:00 – !  That first mile was followed by 2 more, also under 8:00, albeit just barely.  I could give you some more commentary here but it’s nothing out of the ordinary.  I contemplated quitting, I contemplated puking, I contemplated smacking myself for signing up for another stupid 5K…the usual.

The finish was awkward.  The terrain went suddenly from pavement to rocky dirt and I had to concentrate to stay balanced.  I couldn’t see the finish even though I knew I was close.  After a hairpin turn, it was right in front of me but there wasn’t much space for a sprint and I couldn’t finish as strong as I’d have liked.  I crossed the finish line in 25:02 and knew I had a PR.  The official results gave me a net time of 24:46 for an average pace of 7:58 min./mile.

Even though I made my goal, I was a tad disappointed.  I raced at a nearly identical race to Harpoon despite the fact that the course was 2.2 miles shorter.  I do think I did the best I was capable of that day but I’ve got to believe that there’s a better race in me.  I hate making excuses but I must point out that I spent the evening prior to the race at a party.  With a keg.  A keg that I probably should have distanced myself from much more than I did.  Oh well.  It is what it is and I’d still call the race a success.

Finish time aside, I think what I’m most proud of is my placement in this race.  I ended up being 17th out of 207 in the 18-29 F division.  (Top 8%)  Overall, I was 108/762.  (Top 14%)  I also noticed that if I were 7 months older, I’d have made top 10 for my age group.  Me, somewhere other than bringing up the caboose?!  That’s crazy.  Probably it was not a competitive field.  I don’t know.  Regardless, I think slow, un-athletic little me has come a long way in the last few years. 

After this race, I made Barry swear up and down that he would not let me sign up for another 5K.  I always think I want to do them and then 20 seconds into the race, I regret it.  He promised.  When I got home, I received an email about a local 5K in my town.  Barry told me not to sign up.  I nodded my head in agreement and stepped away from the laptop.  I went to bed, I woke up, I started thinking about how I could have raced better….  When I got into work this morning, I went and signed up anyway.  What can I say?  I’m a glutton for punishment.