I hadn't run this one before, and I don't usually run the 5k distance 'cause I'm not great at it. 1/2 Marathon is my favorite distance. But Bill encouraged us to sign up, and I didn't want to sign up and not race it. So I signed up and raced it.
I got there an hour before the race. Bill, Andrea, Dominique, and Marie were already warming up. I saw them after they finished their first loop, so I joined up. I did a 1.25 lap with them, then did one at a 7:00 pace on my own. Got my stuff together and did 3 sprints. Everything felt good. I was ready.
Since this was an animal assisted therapy 5k, the race was open to dogs. That meant 90% of the crowd was there for a slow jog. It was also 2 laps around Wheeler Farm, so we started lapping people about 2 miles into it. The last mile was dodging people and cars. There was a point at mile 1.5 where we had to cross part of the parking lot. Since I was the leading runner at that point, a car passed right in front of me and didn't even see me. I hit the back window of the car with both my hands HARD to give them a message. I don't think it slowed me down to much- just 5 seconds or so.
I spotted some trouble at the begining of the race. Wasatch Athletics was providing the timing for the race, so there were a couple runners there from that group. Some older guy that was all decked out in the green singlets and shorts that they wear. Then you had Demitrio running the show behind the scenes. I also noticed some guy stylin' himself like he belonged in the UFC or some chiz, wearing some sort of short mohawk. He was talking Olympic Trials results with the other elite runners, so I got the scoop from him. He ended up passing me after mile 2 and winning the race- but I didn't get his name.
I pushed the pace the first mile. There were some younger kids running the race seriously, so I wanted to get ahead of them. After .25 miles, I didn't notice anyone behind me. I naturally slowed down and tried to calm down, knowing that a 5k is still long enough to have some respect for. The girl at mile 1 called out "5:10", but I think it was short. Still- it was a little fast. I wanted a 5:30 pace.
At mile 1.5, I started feeling fatigued. Not the same as a longer distance- it was mostly just the nervous system. I tried snapping out of it, but I didn't get a second wind until 2.5, and it was too late at that point to catch up to the first place finisher. He passed me just after mile 2, put some distance between us, and then I held on to the distance for the last 1/2 mile.
As I was coming to the finish, I noticed Dominique, without the dog she started with. I called out her name, and she gave me some encouraging words (with 100 meters to go). I saw her about 1/4 mile before that, but she was passing people and moving too fast for me to catch up until the end. I don't know what she was doing, but it was probably sub-7:00 judging from her finish time and considering she took 3-5 minutes putting the dog back in the vehicle before finishing off the first lap. So after I finished, I jogged back about .5 miles and ran it back in with her. She gave it a kick at the very end and I wasn't in the mood to keep up.
I talked with Bill, Andrea, Dominique, Marie, and Alicia a bit after the race. Andrea, Dominique and I stayed the extra hour for the entire raffle. I got some $15 gift certificate for a race id. Whoo hoo. We agreed to meet next Saturday at Ruth's diner to do Emigration. | 