Strider's Winter Series 5k. I arrived at about 8:10 am, enough time to check in and get in a 4.75mi warmup before the race. I ran the course, and I'm still debating whether that was good idea, but I think it was. With substantial climbs throughout the first two miles and just as substantial (and steep) descents, it was a wacky course to say the least. Paul Peterson's elevation profiles tell at least part of the story. Looking back, I believe the course must have been designed with the purpose of showcasing Ogden's trophy homes, because I can't figure out any other reason why you would design a 5k route like that. My goal in this race was to stay mentally tougher than I was a couple of weeks ago, and run sub-18 minutes at all costs. The pace was fast from the start, with a very strong pack of runners leading the way out of the Dee Events Center parking lot. Of course, this is as close as I would get to the front pack, as I settled into the third chase group at about 1km mark. First mile was 5:42, not too bad considering the climb, but I knew the worst was yet to come. The second mile has a couple of long climbs, which I tolerated well and made up a little ground and a place or two. On the descents that followed, I just tried to keep my form together and lean forward, let gravity do the work. The mile 2 split, which comes right at the top of another hill, was 6:11. The third mile is slightly more forgiving, but has a longish descent where maintaining a fast pace is difficult. The last .35 mi or so are run back to the Dee Events center parking lot, and around to the finish. I held pretty strong, finishing the final 1.1 in 6:02 (I missed my 3mi split)--10th overall, in 17:55.
You can read the entries from others, but the bloggers had a great race overall. Bob Thompson was 2nd behind Corbin Talley and Paul Peterson--making a comeback with a vengeance--was 3rd. Sasha was 5th, I believe, but I may be wrong. Ted had a good race as well. It was fun to put some faces with the blogs and we all put in some cool down miles at the end of the race. After the awards, I ran another 3.25 through the trophy homes. I feel good about this race because it made me realize I'm not very far off of where I was on my better 5k performances last year, at least in terms of effort. If I can concentrate on continuing to develop speed, I think I can improve my 5k PR.
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