Freakin' Hot 5K Race Report
Chip time 21:06.7, 2nd place age group
Weather: 77 degrees, 92 percent humidity, actually not quite "freakin' hot" but not cool either
I signed up for this race last year but overslept. This year, woke up in plenty of time, arrived over 45 minutes early and had enough time for check in and a warmup of about 1.8 miles, mostly easy jogging with 4 strides at the end. I was able to accelerate to 5k pace and faster which was a good sign.
Race starts and after a little bit I look at my watch, showing that I'm too slow I'm also in some tall trees so for now just look ahead and try and pass the people who started out too fast until I can settle in to a faster pace I can hold. First mile goes pretty quickly and I manage sub 6:40 pace, first time I've done that in a while. Still feeling pretty strong into the second mile, keeping it together in the 6:40's, but I slowly slip a little then get some back, finishing the second mile in 6:48.
Now I've got two good miles under my belt. I'm more in a hanging on mentality but I'm also thinking about cadence and trying to concentrate on that. But, no matter what I'm going to hang onto sub 7:00 and not blow it like I did on July 4th. Finally the home stretch. Clock is still in the 20:50's when I see it but I'm too far to sneek under.
Splits: 6:36, 6:48, 6:56 0.12@6:33
Gotta work on finishing the last mile strong, sub 6:50 and I could've broken 21:00.
However, just broke the slowing down streak since the Hippie Dash. Deseret News Half did not give me confidence to predict a good marathon, but it did tell me that maybe if you have some luck and really dig, you can still get it.
Today's race showed some progress at least. Fall 5k's could get faster, I've seen jumps as much as 1 minute between hot summer 5k's and a cooler fall 5k.
Got to see Joe, Renee, the old Wednesday night group (minus Daisy who had to split early), Jenny, Sean, and Maria. Also chatted with 1st AG guy Brian who beat me by a good 30 seconds and he's 59 years old so can't use age excuse.
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