Track 5k, one of the few opportunities I'm going to get this year due to my work schedule. Ike paced again this year and my plan was to go out at the back of the lead pack and get towed along as far as I could go. I was hoping to run 15:10-15:20.
The pace off the back of the pack was quicker than I expected, but it felt totally fine. I was dead on 15:00 pace right from the gun, 2:59 at 1k, 4:49 at 1600m, and I was starting to think I might be able to run right around 15:00. I felt the pace slow after 1600 and decided to wait until 6 laps to go before making any moves.
At 6 laps in, one of the favorites fell and I had to nearly stop to avoid stepping on him. After that, all of a sudden the race felt hard. I got to 3200m in 9:42 (I think....) and from there I slowly started to die and I don't remember my splits. With 2 laps to go I remember thinking "Great 2:30 will get me under 15:20," but I did not run 2:30. There must have been a couple of awful laps in there, because I crossed the finish line in 15:24. I was flogging myself for the last mile trying to get more out, but I just couldn't.
I don't mind running off my goal times when I can get everything out of myself, and I felt I at least did that. Maybe with better pacing I could have shaved several seconds off, but under these circumstances, when I'm not anywhere close to PR shape, I'd rather just go for it and see what happens.
It was a great day for a few old teammates who got themselves well under 15:00.
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