I debated whether or not to run this race because I have been telling myself for the past few months what terrible shape I am in. I am 10 pounds heavier than last year at this time and just have not been in a running groove for quite a while. Since I'm trying to get a more healthy attitude toward running and not focusing on my performance so much I decided to run this race despite my fear of doing poorly. Met Kathie at the start which was a nice surprise. The course is accurate with no significant hills. The only drawback is the 25+ 90 degree turns. I thought that 19:30 was a reasonable goal considering the extra weight and lack of speed work. Lined up at the front with all of the high school kids and Tim (can't remember his last name but he runs 5k's in 17 min and usually wins this race). The gun went off and I just hung back because I didn't want to take off too fast. I was surprised how many people where ahead of me. I didn't look at my watch at all and thought I was running 6:20/mile pace. The pace felt good but I didn't have the desire to push it. Hit the first mile in 5:57 with my HR at 161 bpm (first time I have worn a HR monitor during a race). I was shocked at the split because it didn't feel that fast and I was still pretty far back in the pack. During the second mile I could tell that my pace had slowed a bit but I started passing a lot of people. Hit the 2nd mile in 6:11 and my HR was 175 bpm. During the 3rd mile I just settled into a pace and couldn't find the desire to push hard. There were a couple of runners ahead of me that I probably could have passed but I just didn't feel the urge to move to the next level of pain. Third mile split was 6:15 and my HR was 178. Finished the last 0.1 at 5:34/mile pace with HR hitting 181 bpm for a total time of 19:01. Of course 18:59 would have felt a million times better but I was pleased with the outcome. It is only 13 seconds slower than my time last year which surprised me. Physically, I don't think that I'm too far off where I was the past couple of years it's just the mental aspect of racing that I have lost. I was nice to get a race in and past the fear of racing.
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