The Salt Lake Running Co. offered a free 5k as part of the grand opening of their new store. Pfitz had a race on the schedule for today so I signed up for it. I have been doing more speedwork lately and I am in the middle of the taper so I was hoping for a good race. The course was almost perfectly flat. The weather was 40 degrees with a light rain. Everything was lining up for a fast race. Warmed up by running the course plus a little. As we lined up there were only 2 guys that looked very fast. One was Jeremy Holt who I have run with a lot and knew we were close in fitness level. He said he only wanted to run 6:30 pace for a tempo run but I knew better. We started and another runner and I were immediately in the lead. I was running very comfortable and the pace felt really good. We were behind police escort and I couldn't help but think of Teena and her run behind the police escorts in Boston. After 1/2 mile, Jeremy pulled up along side of us and the 3 of us were running side by side. Kind of fun to be running in a group behind the police escort. I was amazed at how easy the pace felt. It even felt a little slow but I intentionally held back. My stomach was bothering me but everything else was perfect. I started to notice that I run with very tense shoulders. I focused on relaxing them and the pace came easier. Hit the first mile in 5:56. The other guy started to drift back a little after 1.25 miles so it was just Jeremy and me. At the turnaround, I noticed that my pace was starting to slip. Tried to focus on relaxing but it didn't seem to help. Jeremy put about 10 yards on me and I couldn't respond. My legs felt great and my breathing wasn't labored. I just couldn't shift into a higher gear. Mile 2 came in at 6:05. Mile 3 was much of the same. I felt fine but the pace continued to slip and Jeremy continued to gap me. Mile 3 was 6:10 and the last 0.1 was at 5:39 pace for a final time of 18:48. Overall not a great performance but on the bright side I felt great and think I could have held 6:10 pace for quite awhile. I have no explanation as to why I could not shift into a higher gear but I am happy with how easy the pace felt. The fitness is there, I just need to be more race ready. Finished the day with another 2.7 miles.
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