Going Long (again) in 2024

Long story short:  I nailed a new PR.  Actually blew my old one out of the water ... cutting off 26 seconds from my previous best.  I'm VERY happy!  20:10 official finish.  22nd overall and 2nd in my age division.

The long version:  After running 4 races in 4 weeks, I hadn't planned on this one.  But I was nudged to when I heard of 3 races on our Canadian Thanksgiving Day.  The first was a 5k trail race, and that was my 1st choice until I couldn't find a hotel nearby at a decent price.  My second choice was a point to point road 5k, but when I went to register, it was sold out.  So, I went for this one ... a series of road runs of various distances following a route around Exhibition Park in Guelph, Ontario.  I opted for the 5k.  I actually wanted to see how fast I could run this distance to help give me some idea of a goal time for Boston.

So, I left Sudbury on Sunday afternoon and arrived in Cambridge (of 25k Trail Race fame last weekend) just as the sun was setting.  I checked into my hotel, and then went to Boston's Pizza to eat, drink, and watch the Blue Jays take on Texas in game three of their series.  WHAT a game!  Lasagna, beer and baseball.  Works for me.  I remembered that 4 beers helped me a few weeks ago in my Toronto 5k, so 4 beers it was.  Of course, that previous game saw Toronto slaughtered.  This time, it was high fives all around with complete strangers.  I didn't get to bed until almost midnight, but the race didn't start until 11:30 the next morning, so all was good.

COLD morning!  Had to scrape my windows.  At 8am it was -3C/28F, but it warmed up to an ideal 7C/45F by race time.  It was clear and no wind.

The race was only a 20 minute drive from my hotel.  The route around Exhibition Park is 1800 meters, so my race was about 2 3/4 laps of the route.  I checked it out on google maps ahead of time, and I walked it the morning of.  The long stretches of the block are about a half mile long, and the shorter ones then are a little more than 100 meters.  That's where the hills were.  Both were uphill; one was 50 meters up sharp, while the other was 100 meters up.  Both downhills on the long stretches were gradual.  Not a difficult course.

I positioned myself pretty much on the line.  There was no timing mat at the start - just at the end, and I wanted an accurate official time.  Turned out it was a good position for me.  I came in 22nd out of 272 runners.  The first mile was my fastest - run in 6:25.  The second I ran in 6:33 and the third in 6:29.  The final 200 meters I sprinted at a 5:18 pace, peaking at 4:54.

When I saw the clock on the home stretch, I could see it approaching 20 minutes.  I knew, based on my mile splits, that I would not break 20, but I was still sad to see it turn.  However, I was pumped at my time.  A good race.  And in looking back, I could not think of where I might have picked up the 10 seconds.  If I attacked the hills harder, I would have gassed.  If I ran the straights harder, I would have faded more at the end.  As it was, in the final 200 meters, I passed a number of runners, but had one final runner in my sights.  I couldn't find an extra gear to catch him, and he ended up finishing a half second ahead of me (and a 27 year old, so I don't feel bad).  But the fact that I knew I could not run faster than I did tells me that I ran the best I could this day.  I'll take it.

And, having a 20:10 5K under my belt today, tells me that my Boston goal time of 3:25 or less is very achievable.  I've decided to go with the Hanson's program again.  Officially starts in 9 weeks.  Between now and then I'm going easy with base mileage.  Maybe a 10K Turkey Trot on American Thanksgiving .  Maybe.