Robbie's Run 5k
Fun and meaningful race today. This was Keith's race held at the Word of Life camp in Hudson. I ran this last year and surprised myself with first under 20:00 5k in a while and earning a jar of Dixie's Honey.
Similar to last year, my last 5k was the Little-Markou 5k held in December. This year I ran my fastest time in a while there at 19:19 after having done quite a few 5k's to get my time back down. So, this year, although I had a faster recent time, the bar was set higher and I had not been doing that much training directly for a 5K (although last week's Chasco Mile helped with some speed confidence). But this year, I was not able to get to bed early and had a busy day on Friday but I didn't want to miss a single important thing on Friday for the sake of a perfect conditions race - I had a very important date with Jessica last night. So, today I would do my best.
Jessica arrived while I was warming up and saw me off at the start to wish me luck.
First mile felt easy for most of it where the pace was around a 5:50. I realized it was not wise to push through under 6:00 just for the sake of getting under 6:00. First place guy (Lee) had gotten way ahead, Eric (track runner from Mitchell who had raced yesterday at Fivay) was in second, and a guy named Dean was ahead of me. Dean had slowed a little and every time I'd try to go around him slowly he'd shift enough that I couldn't get by him, so finally I had to step on the gas to go around him and put a small gap between me and him. Eric had gotten farther ahead but he was still a good target to follow. Finally, finished the first mile at 6:00 flat and continued on toward the turn around which was at about 1.8 miles.
Made the turnaround and saw that Dean was pretty close behind me. Hit the mile 2 sign with a pace of 6:14. Running was feeling very difficult with a little bit of jello like feeling in my legs, but my breathing was not too bad. Into the third mile, my pace was dropping but I was closing the gap slightly with Eric (but still a ways off). I was going through my choices at this point. I had two good miles and I knew I could get under 20:00 by just hanging or I could keep pushing and get closer to 19:00.
So, third mile came in slightly faster at 6:13. As I approached one of the final turns I picked it up which besides helping my last mile helped shave off a couple seconds making a difference between tying my time at Little-Markou in December and comind in a few seconds ahead.
Final chip time: 19:16
Jessica was waiting for me at the finish, cheering me on. After crossing, I was trying to tell her about the race but needed a minute where I could talk normally between "the-just-put-it-all-out-there-post-5k-breathing" breaths. Stayed around for breakfast and awards and loved the atmosphere and fellowship.
Talked to Eric after the race, learned that he had raced the 800, 1600, and 3200 yesterday, made it to the senior prom and did not get home until 12:30 and was feeling a bit tired. But, he said he knew I was behind him and couldn't let Andy's dad beat him, which I took as a compliment of course that he'd even give that possibility a second thought.
Long and enjoyable day with some shopping and later on indoor rock climbing at vertical ventures with Jess and her two daughters.
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