I ran the minuteman 5k this morning, getting to the race course a little after 7:00. I warmed up with Sasha and Seth before doing some striders, and stretching before the start of the race. Just looking at the field before the start of the race, I could tell that it was going to be competitive, as there was a high number of runners who looked serious. When the gun went off I was really surprised at the speed at which Teren and Seth took off at. My original plan had been to try and hang with them for as long as possible, and then trying to survive the last bit to the finish. Instead I scrapped those plans, and I hung at the front of the trail pack with Alexander Thomas, while another runner tried to hang with Teren and Seth, and another held about halfway between them and us. During the first mile I would switch between 5th and 6th, as Alexander would sometimes be in front of me, and vice versa. I hit the mile in 5th place with a time of 4:53, 6 seconds behind the leaders (4:47). During the second mile, Alexander and I started moving up and we began to battle one another as we tried to stay in front of one another. We caught the 4th place runner a little past 1.5 miles and we started gaining on the 3rd place runner, who had now dropped off of the pace that Teren and Seth had set. The course through the first mile and a half had been either a slight downhill, or flat. Just a little ways before the 2 mile mark, however, the course starts to go up a slight uphill, which does not hurt too bad initially, but which really takes a toll by the end of the race. Alexander passed me just before the 2 mile mark, and we had not yet caught the 3rd runner, so I finished the second mile still in 5th place with a time of 9:47 (4:54). At this point I was 11 seconds behind Teren and Seth who went through this mark at 9:36 (4:49). Just past the 2 mile mark I passed the runner who was in 3rd for the first 2 miles. He seemed to be fading, so I did not worry too much about him. Alexander however, was posing more of a problem as he was now the only person between me and the money. He started to push the pace a little more as we worked our way up the hill and he put a small gap on me (3-5m). I let him have it as I did not want to push the pace too early because I wanted to be able to have enough left to take him at the finish if it was necessary. We turned the corner onto a bigger hill (still not too big) with less than a half mile left, and it was at this point that I decided to make my move. I really did nothing more than focus on maintaining pace up the hill, but it was enough to catch up to and pass Alexander. From this point on I could not even hear him, although he finished only 2 seconds back. I now focused on Seth, who had dropped off the pace Teren had set. I could tell he was coming back, albeit rather slowly and I slowly worked on reeling him in. As we neared the 3 mile mark I could tell that I was pretty thrashed, as my battle with Alexander had taken a lot out of me and I realized that I would probably not be able to catch Seth. I made it through 3 miles in 14:59 (5:12 not bad for an uphill mile) with Seth about 4 seconds in front, and Teren a ways in front of Seth. Over the last .1 Seth pushed it a little harder in order to beat me, and I think the gap stayed about the same as I finished the last .1 in 31 seconds for a total time of 15:30 for the race. Seth came in at 15:26, and Teren came in at 15:13. Officially my time was 15:31, however both the running clock and my watch both had me at 15:30 as I crossed the line. Anyhow, based on our two mile times, Teren only put six seconds on me over the last 1.1 which was consistent with the rate at which he gained on me over the first 2 miles. I gained 7 seconds on Seth over the last 1.1 but I think that pretty much all of it came before the 3 mile mark as he sped up over the last little bit to maintain the distance. Just like my last race, this race has proven to be a good barometer for my fitness and the improvements which I have been making, which is very encouraging for me. Just a few months ago I finished 20 seconds behind Seth at the Magna 5k (4 seconds today) and 56 seconds behind Teren (17 seconds today) and that race was a 50 second 5k pr for me. Anyhow, I am excited with my progress, and hopefully I can keep this up over the next few months.
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