South Carolina Peach Festival 5K Race Report
(Goal: 21:00, 6:45 min/mile. Worst case goal: 22:00, 7:04 min/mile.)

I had to get up at 4 AM and leave home at 5 AM in the morning, because the race was about two hours drive from Columbia in Gaffney, SC. I wanted to be there at 7 AM, because the 5K was scheduled to start at 7:30. I was leaving the apartment complex at 5:10, ten minutes late, so I drove a little faster than I should have - but it was quite OK, as nobody was on the road on Saturday morning at 5 o'clock.

I arrived to the place a few minutes before 7. The temperature was perfect: high 60s. There were already quite a few people around. I found a parking place, then the usual rounds: line in the bathroom, Powerbar, water, warmup. This time I ran a few 100 meter (or so) sprints aftre my usual warmup to get my body to speed.

At 7:30 sharp, we lined-up at the start line. I positioned myself close to the line; tried to use my experience to guess my expected overall position and I let so many runners ahead of me (I was quite on spot). The race director told a short prayer (not the unusual in the Deep South). I do prefer keeping sports events secular, but she kept is short and simple, so it was fine.

The first mile was mostly uphill with some steep parts (which I knew), and I tried to pace myself close to my VO2 max by feeling. Everything was fine: I did work hard, but I didn't kill myself, and on the top of the hill, at the 1-mile marker, my time was 6:55. I was happy with that, 10 seconds off my pace, but on the top of the hill. My body had been working at ninety-some percent capacity, but I knew that a flat part followed.

The second mile was a bit of struggling. A few people passed me, which is never a great feeling. I tried to keep up with some of them, but I realized, it was wiser not to try too hard. I think my pace was fine: these people, who passed me, were running negative splits (which is fine, too). An old woman passed me by cutting two corners a few meters on the sidewalk. She ended up winning her age group. Probably the few meters didn't matter, but I was still pissed. I hate cheaters. It was obvious that the race course was measured on the road. The marking was on the road. So she was either really stupid or a cheater.

I have reasons to believe that the second mile marker was incorrectly placed. According to my stopwatch, I ran the second mile in 6:23 (seems too fast) and the third mile at a pace 7:01 (seems too slow). Yeah, I did fade a little bit by the end, but it was all downhill, so if nothing else, I certainly wasn't slower on that part. I think my second mile must have been 6:4x, as well as my third, mostly downhill mile.

The downhill was nice, but I was tired, and I wished I didn't go out that fast (again, grrr...). I changed to a faster breathing pattern. I did a have power for a weak kick. I didn't see the finish clock until I was very close, because there were a lot of trees around a finish line, and when I first caught sight of it, it just turned disappointingly to 21 minutes. I was in within seconds of that, and my official time is 21:04. (I actually think it was more like 21:10, when I ran under the finish clock, but maybe the finish line was bit sooner than I thought. It wasn't too clearly marked, there was no gate, just a couple of traffic cones and some plastic tape marking the chute.)

I basically ran my goal pace, which is nice, except the lingering suspicion, that my official time or the official distance is a bit off. The reason I think that is that the organization was a bit chaotic in some respect. At least one guy said, he ran 18:02, but he wasn't on the finisher's list. A middle aged woman accidentally ran 5K instead of 10. OK, that may very well be her fault. At least when I passed the branching point of the 5K and the 10K route, the volunteers pointed out the directions very clearly. Also, there were markings on the pavement. Besides, the woman behaved like an ass, cursing at the organizers. Come on, she finished the 5K with some 30 minutes, so it's not like her world record attempt went wrong! Her behaviour was definitely not justified.

In any case, I definitely PR'd, and at this point I probably can't run much faster than this. Maybe on flat course, at 55 degrees, sea level, more sleep, less driving, I could run somewhat better, but I think I still couldn't break 20 minutes.

I waited a looong time for the award ceremony. I sat down by a ditch to cheer the slower 5K runners and the really fast 10K runners. I talked with a guy who ran his first race after an Achilles tendon rupture. He told me about the story of his injury. Scary. I will always have to remember, that it is better to run slowly that risking injury.

A suspected that I was relatively high in my age group, and indeed: another 3rd place in the 30-34 year old male group! In reality, I was only 5th, but the first two in my age group were among the first three finishers overall, so they are ineligible for age group awards. I collected my ribbon and left for home.