First time running with the East High Leopards this morning.
I warmed up for 3.5 miles before the race, a bit with Adam RW, it was nice chatting and getting his take on the race. We lined up at an overly crowded starting line and the race began at 8:30.
Plan was to go out hard but not too hard, first mile came at 5:19. I was pretty happy about this mile. Lots of high school runners were running sub 5 pace for the first half mile, sheer ridiculousness. They were in the way! My guess is that lots were walking by the end of the first mile.
The second mile flattens out and may even have some slight uphill for the first portion followed by some serious downhill and a fairly flat stretch on Foothill Blvd. I hit mile 2 at 10:40 (5:21) and had a lot of energy. I was in 10th at the end of this mile.
I hit the gas at the start of the third mile, I moved from 10th to 4th on Sunnyside and hit the track and started to kick. I was able to close the last 1.1 in (5:14), the downhill didn't hurt, luckily I had some speed left on the track and almost ran down the third place guy. Last mile was under 4:50 so I'm pretty happy about that even with the downhill it shows me that I can turn my legs over fairly well.
Overall impressions, I'm glad to get a new PR even though it's aided. I regret not fighting harder in the second mile and maybe pushing a little more in the first too. My fear is to blow up in one of these races. Part of me wants to blow up in one of them just for the experience. Might sound goofy but for some reason I often have the feeling that I didn't give it my all when a race ends. Anyone else get that after races?
So, I have plenty to work on and am looking forward to improving and putting in more time and miles. I am loving the sport right now and enjoy lacing my shoes up for a few miles whenever there's time.
There'll be plenty more races and time to work on strategy.
Fun race! I'll do it again next year and recommend it to anyone looking to PR in the 5k. Thanks to my parents and Jing for showing up at the track to cheer me on. Went straight from the race to breakfast, no cooldown.
Afternoon- 5.4 miles easy around the block
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