Woke up this morning with a headache, so I think my wife and son's sickness finally caught up with me. I had been feeling off the past couple of days and I could tell today's race was not going to be my best. Nonetheless, I decided to drive over to St. Paul to around Lake Phalen.
The winds at the lake were around the 20-25 mph mark and unfortunately the course runs into the wind for the 1st and last miles. The 2nd mile features a very steep hill with a snake to the trail in the middle. My goal time of sub 16 quickly was changed to sub 17 figuring there wouldn't be much competition for a race of 600 people. Before the race I became nauseous and thought I was going to throw up. At this point I was thinking maybe this isn't such a good idea under these conditions. I reasoned that it's only a 5K and I'll probably be in control of the race.
At the start I noticed most of the top runners that I knew were running the 10K, which in my mind left me thinking I'll probably be running this on my own.
The 1st mile took us on a roller coaster path into the wind. I came through the mile in 5:18 with another runner drafting on me.
The 2nd mile turns with the wind. I reached the last 10K runners about 1.25 miles in and so I was dodging runners on a narrow path the rest of the way. I made a conscious effort to pick up the pace and I eventually couldn't hear any footsteps from the runner drafting on me. When I reached the steep hill I was sucking air pretty hard. When I got to the top all I could see was wall to wall people running on the trail down below. I found a crease between the bushes and the cliff just off the trail I was able to somehow navigate past the narrow parts of the path. My 2nd mile split at the bottom of the hill came out to a 5:22.
The 3rd mile was straight back into the wind. I was still weaving runners from the 10K, but it wasn't nearly as narrow, so I was able to find enough room off the path to get around. I was really having hard time breathing and felt like the wheels were starting to come off. My form was starting to suffer and I really was just trying to keep it together. The 3rd mile was a very curvy trail with poor footing and several wooden bridges that were slippery from the rain. I split a slow 5:34 mile for that last mile. The last .14 turned out to be: 42.2 for a 16:57. Not a fast close for me, but I was really just kind of on auto pilot with the race wrapped up knowing I was going to break 17.
All in all a great workout and probably a better effort than I could have done on my own. I just hope I start to feel better. I checked the weather and learned humidity was in the 90% range, so that explains the heavy breathing. I had a pounding headache and felt really dizzy for a good 10 minutes after the race. Feeling better now that I ate and drank a whole bunch of water. Time for a much needed nap!
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