As scheduled, Teresa and I ran the Allie Reynolds 5K near Lake Overholser in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It is a wonderful little race that draws plenty of slower runners so that folks like me don't feel overwhelmed. At the same time there are enough serious runners to keep everyone honest.
Today was absolutely perfect for a race: temps in the low 70s, clear blue skies, and winds at 0-5 mph along the very flat course. The 5K and 10K courses are out and back loops while the marathon goes around the lake 3 times. You do have to share the road with cars and the occasional cyclists but everyone seems to be more concerned with enjoying the day and nobody gets tense.
We got registered -- mostly self-serve, find the packet with your bib and t-shirt, go to the next station and find your chip -- and did a leisurely 0.50 mi to warm up. A few stretches preceded a trip to the porta-potties and then to the start line for the necessary pre-race, nervous chatter.
Mile 1 -
You start at the Route 66 park head south to exit the park, jog a bit to the east and then get onto the course proper as you head south along the lakeside. As always, we got a little excited and headed out of the gate a bit strong. I quickly reined things in and settled into a 10:30 pace. Teresa kept trying to push out ahead but I stayed on the mark. My calves were feeling stiff so I was not interested in breaking any speed records. For some reason -- probably because I was running on a completely empty stomach -- I was fighting a great deal of acid reflux.
Mile 2 -
A ease the pace back to 10:45 and enjoy the scenery along the lake a bit more. The faster runners are passing now so I make a point at calling out words of encouragement as they pass. At least they were words of encouragement in my head, I have a feeling though that they came out as breathless mumbles.
At the turn-around point I considered stopping to grab a drink and hope that it helped the acid issue. However, I knew that if I stopped I would have a hard time making up the time.
Mile 3 -
Around 2.75 miles I was hurting quite a bit from the reflux and thought I do a runner's hurl to improve things but chose to pick up my pace instead. The finish line is within sight so I started feeling what I might have left for a push. A bit of gas was left in the tank so I stretched the stride, made a point of lifting my head and letting my arms carry me a bit.
The stretch -
An older man -- turned out to be 70 -- was a bit in front of me and I passed him in my kick. I actually slowed down a bit planning to let him go through the gate ahead of me but I saw that I might make 33:00 on the clock. I wanted that 33:00 mark so I kicked a bit more.
My final time was 33:03, placing 80th overall and 6th in my age group. The 70 year old came across in 33:05. So now I am asking myself if I really needed that 2 seconds or would it have meant just as much to me to let him cross the line ahead of me? Oh well.
Final numbers:
3.16 mi in 33:03 @ 10:28/mi avg pace -- burning 438 calories -- 147 bpm HRavg.
Splits --
1.00 mi in 10:32 -- 133 bpm HRavg
1.00 mi in 10:45 -- 141 bpm HRavg
1.00 mi in 10:23 -- 158 bpm HRavg
0.16 mi in 01:23 -- 173 bpm HRavg (08:41/mi pace)
Thanks to anyone that took the time to read this far.
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