Fun morning! Wish it wasn't quite so windy - and chilly. The wind made my sub 17 min. goal more challenging than it otherwise should have been, but oh well. I was only able to pull off a 17:26 today. But that's close to a 30 second PR, so that's cool. I will get to 17 soon I think. It's inevitable if I'm going to make to to 16 right?
- Breanne after taking 1st for kindergarten - and taking home some gift card $$
- Bre at the start
The highlight of the morning was watching my 5 yr. old Breanne win her first race though! It was incredibly cute. Like mother like daughter. Quote from Bre after: "Mom, thats the first time I've run a race and finished 1st place!". When asked how she did it, "I just moved my legs faster and faster!". She is the most coordinated and naturally athletic of our kids for sure. And she stepped up and raced against the kindergarten kids and handily beat all the girls and boys, winning a $10 gift card and feeling pretty happy with herself.
- Bre, focused, looking for the finish at the 1/2 mile mark.
Abe followed our pre-race advice perfectly, went out slower than everyone, and ended up in 2nd place for 1st grade boys. And then he broke down in tears to find out that only 1st place gets a prize. It was pretty funny actually (but I resisted laughing as I comforted him as he shed the tears of dealing with the tough breaks of 2nd place!)
I guess its kind of inevitable that our kids our going to be exposed to running and racing throughout their lives since Nan and I are so into it. But the cool thing is that they get completely jazzed and excited about the opportunity to participate in a race. I guess they might get jealous seeing Mom and Dad do it all the time. Abe and Bre were seriously stoked last night when I reminded them that they got to do a race in the morning if they wanted to. Which is always cool as a parent to see the kids get excited about the things that we enjoy. It would be cool if that lasts. And if not, that's cool too though. I'm of the strong opinion of not forcing my kids to like what I like. And we are trying to expose them to a lot of different things. I liked how Abe got the chance to learn a lesson first hand like that at a young age though. It was a good teaching opportunity.
- Abe starting out smart at the back of the pack
- Cruising into the finish, excited to hear his name in the cheers I think.
- Abe experiencing some good 'ol 2nd place blues!
Abe has always been pretty keen on winning whatever it is he is doing...its good for him to be learning lessons about that.
Race start, Left to right, me, Brandon (kind of hidden), Lucho (also kind of hidden) - bunch of young dudes in front of us
So as for my race, my goal was to run under 17 minutes. Which would be a 53 second PR for me and kind of a stretch perhaps. But even after this race, I do think I'm fit enough to do that in the right conditions. When I ran the course as a warmup, I knew that the 2nd mile would be the crux of it. It had a 1/3 mile downhill, followed by a 2/3 mile up hill into a pretty stiff head wind. I knew it would be a slower mile, for everyone. And that I would need to run faster the first mile to make up for it.
At the start, Lucho (just left of me there) and I talked about wanting to go sub 17 at the start line. Of course I knew he was just being humble saying he was only shooting for 17, and that if I were to actually keep up with him that would not have been his best day by any means. But he didn't have a watch to pace from. I now wish that I didn't. Next time I run a 5K I'm going to ditch the GPS entirely and race by feel. I feel I made a tactical error in this race by going off my own pacing plan to strictly the first mile. I may not have gone sub 17 had I done it differently, but I think I could have been faster had I stayed with lucho's group the first mile.
Off the line I went with the lead pack for the first couple hundred meters and then backed off to settle into a 5:20 ish pace. That meant that through the first mile the 10 or 15 leaders continuously gained ground on me. The problem with that strategy of sticking to my even pace, was that the first mile was flat with a tail wind. Lucho hit the first mile 15-20 seconds ahead of me, which was very smart of him to stick with another guy or two at that point. The first mile for me felt totally controlled as I passed it in around 5:20 (per my gps, which lapped sooner than the actual mile marker.) But then I was back in no-mans land, because the two guys closest in front of me fell off pace severely, right as we hit the head wind down hill section so I had to just pass them. And for my 6' 2.5" wide frame, the solo effort into a stiff head wind is not super favorable.
At least it was downhill at that point. But soon enough it was up hill again for a longish grind (not that 2/3 of a mile ever really feels long) into the wind. I knew that I needed to make this stretch as solid as possible to hit my goal, so I pushed the exertion level up a notch or two. And I gained ground on Lucho and the 2 or 3 others between him and me. By the top of the hill I had come to within 10-15 feet behind Jeffry Buechler from Boulder. He happens to look just like Ryan Burch from behind and gave me a nice little mental boost to try and catch him. I was picturing that I was dueling Burch for 2 out of 3 honors. We still need to have a re-match.
Lucho (ie Tim Waggoner) about to crest the hill near mile 2
My view the last half of the race...Jeffrey Buechler (met him after the race)
Me, Coming around the corner near the top of the hill
Gaining on him, didn't ever get too much closer than this though.
Just after this shot we hit the bike path and as I got closer to Jeffry, he heard my heavy breathing and surged. It was flat at that point and heading toward the down hill stretch, and he gapped me a bit more. I tried to recover a little from the up hill push, while still keeping the pace down to 5:20. My second mile was a 5:51 pace, which I knew meant I would need to be under 5:20 and have a solid kick if I was going to hit my goal.
I like this shot Nan got. Lucho, Zack Watson, Andy Rinne, Jeffry Buechler, then me, coming down the final down hill.
Trying to increase speed, not having a ton of success going faster than 5:20 at this point.
I couldn't catch back up to Jeffry, but I kept the gap the same to the end pretty much. But I also couldn't get the pace below 5:20 as much as I tried. The up hill headwind section had taken a toll on me apparently.
As I rounded the corner to the final 200 meters, it was an all out NON-Sprint. As much as I tried, the acceleration was not happening. It had some to do with being close to maxed out, but more to do with being close to maxed out and then turning straight into a super stiff head wind for the last 200 meters. It felt like running through sand.
Lucho finishing strong
The finish stretch sure felt a lot more sand like than that looks like
I Crossed the line in 17:26, 9th overall. And I think it was my first time not getting 'chicked' in, maybe, ever. I'll chalk it up to a good PR and a solid effort.
But like I said, next time I race a 5K, I'm going by feel. I'm kind of tired of over analyzing the pace. Pacing is a good thing. But I feel like I should not have put on the breaks in the first mile. I want to try pacing by feel next time. I feel I should have stayed with a couple people in the first mile while it was easy. Maybe I would have blown up. Or maybe if I would have just stuck with Lucho and worked with him through the wind section, with 3 of us, it could have propelled all of us to faster times. Or a big blow up for me...who knows. What I do know is that there's not much of anything to lose by risking it in a 5K. If you blow up, its only going to hurt bad for a couple minutes. Its not like a 50K or 50 Miler where you can pretty much plan on a 2-4 hour sufferfest if you go out way too hard. And if you take the risk, you then have the chance to go beyond what you may have thought possible. That's mostly a paraphrase from what I gleaned from a post race chat with Lucho...great insight and great chatting with him. He's got me by a massive margin in experience racing and training, I appreciate his sound advice.
Race review...Lucho did a great job of nailing my goal pace. Me, not quite. The wind was definitely a factor. I think everyone could have run 20-25 seconds faster if it were calm.
It was great seeing a bunch of blogosphere and other folks out there this morning. Here are a bunch of other great pics Nan took of the morning.
Brownie at the finish - hmmm..I'm pretty sure that's a girl in front of you. Just kidding, solid race out there today Brownie with an 18:38! You almost reeled her in too.
Don Conkey, finishing strong
Brandon looking fierce at the finish, the flames on his shoes really accentuate it...I need to get some of those! He wasn't about to be out kicked at the line. And got himself a PR too, nice.
Love how George opted to run in with his son, very cool.
And look at JZ's form! Nice!
Watching the awards, Brownie hidden behind Lucho, George, Brandon
And last but not least, Lucho taking the prize for first in our Age group 30-39 (5th overall)
