Run with our Heroes 5K Race Report

Goal: sub-19:00 and winning my age group

I signed up for this 5K because I decided to go into 5K mode over the winter, and three weeks out of my half marathon I wanted to gauge my 5K shape. I chose this one, because this was the weekend when I had time on Saturday morning (isn't that crazy?), and especially because the location was the UofL campus, and UofL participated in organizing the race. The race course actually went by the building I work in, twice!

The course was looping around campus with *lots* of turns, but the final version of the course had no u-turns. It was mostly flat, but there were two somewhat significant inclines: we went over an overpass right after the start, and then under one in the last mile.

It was uncharacteristically cold in the morning: temperature was 22F, which went up to about 25 by start time. Still too cold to race. I also had problems with my training the week leading up to the race, because I was too busy with work. I didn't run on Tuesday and Thursday, and I only ran after 8:00pm on Friday: a brisk 4 miles at 7:20/mile, which might have been a bit too fast considering that I was about to race within 12 hours. So given the cold, the turns, the training, and my not so great last track workout (November 9, see my notes there), I decided to aim for a sub-19 minute finish time. However, driving to the place in the morning, I decided to give myself a chance to PR and not to be afraid to run a sub-6 minute first mile if I would feel up to it.

I arrived around 7:30 for the 8:00 start, and ran 1.5-2 miles easy in my coat and sweatpants (over tights). Got back to my car at 7:45, shed the coat and the pants, so now I was in long sleeves (over a shirt), tights, and shorts over them, gloves, my warm hat, and my trusted Virratas. Meanwhile my family had arrived, and watched me run a few strides. After the opening ceremony (it was a Veteran's Day event), we lined up at 8:05. It was a small event with probably less than 100 runners, so I lined up in the front. At 8:07 we were off.

Two kids jumped out in front of me, so I had to run around them after 200 yards when they realized the race was a bit longer than that. :) A guy on my right went out even faster than the kids, but he seemed to keep a good pace; I was running behind him up on the overpass in second place. I checked my pace on the top and it was just below 6 min/mile, which is a bit scary given that we went uphill. I dialed back a bit, and the leader started to pull away.

At the half mile point we reached the end of the overpass, and it seemed like the leader was slowing drastically. What a jackrabbit! First I wanted to hang behind him a bit, but he got so slow that I worried that others will catch us, so I passed him. Then it was only the "lead car", which was an ATV in front of me. Unfortunately ATVs don't have to pass strict emission standards (I guess), and the exhaust did bother me when he let me close. But they had to use one, because we were using campus walkways where cars could not pass through. Maybe I should suggest a bicycle for next year.

Mile 1: 5:55

Good pace. I looked back and I saw the second place runners at least a hundred meters behind me. I gave him this distance in like 600 meters. So at this point I knew a few things: (1) I'm racing to win this race now, or at least to place high in the overall; (2) the original leader is probably not a factor; (3) people are probably coming behind him, who'd love if I blew up. So I changed to a somewhat more conservative pace. This was a flat portion; we went into the heart of campus, to the car free walkways; ran under the breezeway of a building. Straight visibility was more limited, so I waited for a longer straight walkway to glance back, and I saw nobody behind me. The driver of the ATV saw me glancing back, and he shouted back: "You're all alone, buddy!"

Mile 2: 6:05

We had the hardest incline still ahead. I glanced back a few times, but I never saw anyone. I did keep some reserve power in case somebody would show up. We went up the hill, where I ran pretty slowly, turned a corner, and to my surprise, the lead ATV went straight ahead toward the finish line. I remembered an extra loop from the course map (I am very familiar with the area), but the volunteers directed us clearly to the road. Later I learned that they did this on purpose: the original course was determined to be too long, so they cut out the loop. Well, this made the course too short then... After a few moments I realized that this meant that the course would be under 3 miles. So I glanced back (still nobody), started my kick; then I had to slow back down a bit, because I started too far out. :) Of course I was in pain, but then I saw the finish line, and then I didn't feel the pain any more. I scanned the crowd and saw my wife and kids, cheering, and I couldn't help but smile; raised my hands, and ran through the finish in the 1st place.

Mile 2.94: 5:30 (5:51/mile pace)

Total time: 17:30ish for 2.94 miles.

It's kind of a bummer that it was short, but I have no chance of winning any serious race anyway. It was a great experience to win my first race outright. My older daughter, who is 11, told me that she almost cried, she was so proud to see her dad being the best of a crowd of runners. That alone was worth it.

This pace projects to about 18:30 for 5 kilometers, which is right at my PR. Meaning that I'm in as good shape for the 5K as I have ever been. I received a beautiful glass (or plexiglass) trophy in a very nice award ceremony.

So the work is just starting now. The cold is not a problem, if one only has to run a few miles. I'll train hard, I'll train smart, and I'll go below 18 minutes by this spring.

PS: Official results are now posted. My time was 17:31. Curious fact that the original leader finished at 4th place with 18:38.