Healthy Capital 5k
Local 5k, competing with a trail 10k on the same morning. Got there super early to do my warmup 2 miles. I like running the last mile of the course backwards then forwards to get a good feel for the finish. Registered on site because I had missed the early discounted rate 2 weeks ago. I ran this race last year, and it was fun because there are a lot of high school students there and the band plays, so the energy is good. I ran another half mile when a friend showed up. We looked around at the start and saw a few familiar faces but no one we knew that was faster than us. This was kind of initimidating, because all of a sudden an overall win became a reality. One singlet guy next to me was a wild card. My Garmin crapped out on me before the race – thought it was charged up but one of my kids must of knocked it off.
The course was pretty simple – one loop, with a shared quarter mile hill at the start and finish. Unfortunately the start was the downhill.
With the gun there was a mass stampede effect going down the hill. A large group of students sprinted down only to drop off after a quarter mile. Hard to gauge pace. I kept up near the front and started inching upward at about the half mile mark. Passed 2 guys and now was running 2nd, with the leader (singlet guy) fairly far ahead but definitely in sight. Passed by the mile marker and my friend (who was running in a small pack in 3rd -6th) shouted out a 5:50ish pace. This made me panic somewhat, because I was already breathing pretty hard. Somehow I was able to settle into a manageable pace after about a mile and a half. After a while the pack behind me was no longer audible and I tried to set my sights on the leader. I was definitely making up ground but just not quick enough. I didnt have any splits other than the first, and no one was around me, so I just tried to red line it the best I could. I was really closing in on leader guy toward the end of the third mile, but then the quarter mile hill hit. This pretty much neutralized any chance I had at kicking it past this guy. He was able to hold his position so I just gave it all I could up this brutal hill. There was a turn and a steeper hill for the last .10 – I took a quick look back and there was no one in sight. I saw the clock turn over to 19 minutes and struggled across the line in 19:20. Very excited about the time and the overall finish. My friend was able to kick it on the hill and finished 3rd. Had to wait forever for the awards. Turned out they only did first overall awards and the rest age group. Took home first in age group obviously, but was crushed when I heard 1st got 50 bucks! Oh well – still an awesome race for me. Time to adjust my 2010 goals again!
Tour de Blue Shoes 