I ran in the Salt Lake Track Club Winter Series 5K held on the shores of Great Salt Lake along a frontage road. The course is totally flat, so I was really hoping to break 20 minutes for the first time. I've only run in five previous 5Ks. This distance feels like an all-out sprint to me and can be pretty painful, but for some reason I do fairly well considering my age.
This time, I tried warming up a little more, running about a half mile before the start, hoping my lungs and legs would be ready for the crazy sprint. I recognized a few fastrunning blog runners at the start. The morning was beautiful and sunny. The temperature was right around 30. Air quality was a little poor, but I doubt it affected anything.
Off we went. For the first mile, I kept Mary Ann Schauerhamer in my sights, but I knew she would leave me in the dust. My first mile split was fine, a 6:06. But then things started to unravel. My lungs started to labor, and I knew I just couldn't keep up this pace today. I realized it wouldn't be my day. I was passed by several people and slowed to a 6:54 second mile. That was discouraging, but I didn't quit. I still pushed it as hard as I could and tried to get my breathing under control. I hung on for dear life during the last mile. I was thinking, "Why do I run this crazy distance?" It felt like I was going to keel over and croak. Pretty funny given that I would rather run 100 miles. Mile 3 went better, 6:20, but the legs felt heavy. I cruised into the finish at 20:23, which is 18 seconds off my PR.
I felt disappointed, but gee wiz, just 23 seconds faster would have felt like a victory. I lost those 23 during the second mle. This is just a silly distance. Clearly I need to do more tempo runs if I want to do much better at this distance. Also, I've been eating like a pig lately and am not down to an ideal racing weight.
To cheer me up, it turns out I was the Male Grand Masters Champion! (50 and over). That just means that I was one of the few old farts that didn't keel over and die before the finish line. I came in 33rd overall out of about 210 runners, including some of the best in the state. I received a nice little plaque.
I won't be running the 10K in a couple weeks. I'll be running in the Moab Red Hot 50K+ which will be a total blast compared to this strange road stuff. I'll probably run a 10K next Saturday.
PM
4 easy miles out in the brilliant sunshine. Lungs a little burned out from the morning. | 