Ft. Vallonia 5K Race Report

Goal: 20:15. Minimal goal: 21:00.

The race was held in a small Indiana town about an hour drive from our place. The race started at 1:00pm. Initially I thought this was great, because the whole family could come and I don't have to get up early, but since the race day was the hottest day in weeks, it sucked that we had to race at 1pm. The race was part of a big festival called Ft. Vallonia Days.

The town is very small, just one main street with a bunch of houses and lots of farmland around it. I started my warmup at 12:35 and I finished it at 12:50. I didn't feel great, and it was very hot. I'm not sure about the exact temperature, but our car thermometer showed 82 F when we left. I guess it was around 78-79 F. I did all my recent training in about 55 F, so I was not acclimatized. And I'm sure that the heat felt even worse, because we were running in the sun.

After lining up at the front and some conversation with friendly folks around me (160 people ran or walked the race), we were off at exactly 1:00. The start was a bit nervous, and many people started quite fast. I settled into a fairly conservative pace, especially because a few hundred yards after the start line, we started to climb a hill. The hill was about 1 mile long and the elevation change was 90 feet. It doesn't seem to be that much, but it was enough to make the first mile hard. I'm not very good at climbing hills anyway. I got to the 1 mile mark, which was about the top of the hill.

Mile 1: 6:40

That was slower than expected, but it was uphill. The worse part was that I was quite winded and started to feel hot. The second mile was mostly flat. The course was out-and-back, so we reached the turnaround point during this mile. By this time, we left the town and we ran among corn fields. There was seriously no shadow on this course whatsoever. After playing yo-yo with a few runners, I passed them at around 1.5 miles and I never saw them again. I was alone, hot, tired, and disappointed, because I knew (from my Garmin) that I won't be close to 20 minutes today. At that point, my average pace was around 6:45. I decided to settle for my minimal goal to run sub-21.

Mile 2: 6:49

The rest was downhill. I passed one guy right after the 2 mile mark, and I set sight on another, who seemed to be in my age group. He was about 100 yards away. I worked hard to catch him, and I got close - then I recognized him, and realized that he was 27 - I remembered seeing his bib at the start line. I was in pain, so I stopped trying to pass him: I just ran behind him.

Close to the finish line a moron decided to cross the course and her daughter followed her. I almost ran over the little girl, then I almost fell when I managed to avoid her. I am totally amazed just how stupid some people are.

Mile 3: 6:32

I saw my family at the finish line, my kids cheering me on! That is one of the best things in racing.

Finish time: 20:41

Considering the heat and the hill, this was an OK race. I'm just a little frustrated that the race had to be on that hot day. But this wasn't my goal race so I guess it is OK. I got lucky and I won my age group. The award is a really cool mug! Let me add that the organization was first class: they started on time, the course was accurate, the T-shirt and awards are great, and registration was cheap. (No post-race food, but plenty of water, and I don't care too much about food after a 5K.)

In January this year (after my marathon) I set the sub-20 5K goal. When I got so close in April, I though the goal would be accomplished by May. Now it is October and I'm still not any closer... Anyway, I'll just go on.