Half-Assed Runner

It’s been quite awhile since I last ran a road 5K race.  My last one was at the end of August.  Since that time I’ve run a 5 miler and multiple trail runs.  I was looking forward to this race as it is my last scheduled road 5K of the year and I wanted to see if I could lower my PR of 28:34.  My goal was to beat my PR with an eye towards breaking the 28 minute mark.

I’ve been doing quite a number of long training runs lately.  I did try to get in some “speed work” (in quotes because nothing I do is very speedy) on Thursday, but my pace and stamina were both crap.  I managed one mile at 8:50 on a flat, paved surface.  The rest of the run was riddled with stops.  I don’t know if the long runs were still affecting me, but I could not maintain a pace and was running out of energy.  This did not bode well for my chances at the 5K.

I registered for this race quite a while ago because it was close to home and it was a low-key, inaugural 5K run.  I had put this race on my calendar as starting at 10 am.  Hutchinson is about a 30 minute drive from my house.  As usual, I got a late start and ended up at the campus at 9:45.  There was still a short line at the registration table, so I wasn’t too worried about missing the run.  I picked up my packet and shirt.  I went back to my car to drop off the bag and affix my timing chip and bib.  Then I followed a group of runners inside the college to stay warm.  It was 42 degrees and windy.  Fall has definitely arrived.

I got my iPhone ready.  Tunes were loaded up and Runmeter started.  Although the race was to start in a few minutes, none of the runners seemed to be in a hurry to exit the warm confines of the building to get to the starting area.  At 9:58, I started to panic.  There was a 1K run as well.  I assumed that was a kid’s run, but what if these runners were here for the 1K and the 5K was just about to start?  I still did not know where the race would begin and it looked like my plan of just following some runners to the starting line may not have been the best option.  I walked back outside and asked one of the volunteers where the race was starting.  She pointed to the other side of the building.  I thanked her and jogged over to the starting area.  By this time it was just a few seconds before 10 am.

When I got to the starting area, the kid’s race was beginning.  Either events were running late or I had put the wrong starting time on my calendar.  Of course it was the latter.  The 5K would start at 10:30 am.  I was going to go back inside (did I mention that I was dressed in shorts and a tech shirt?) but thought it might be better to “acclimate” to the weather by waiting outside.  This was my first cold weather run and I thought that freezing my ass off would make me run better because I my body would welcome the warmth generated by my exertion.  Well…it turns out that you’re better off keeping your muscles warm.  So much for pulling running tips out of my ass.

More and more runners started to trickle towards the starting area as 10:30 approached.  There were a ton of women runners and the few male runners were all pretty young.  For a hot second, I thought I might be the only one in my age group.  That did not turn out to be the case.

The race director mentioned that about 130 runners had registered.  The race would be a loop and was chip timed.  We would not be running over the mats to start the race, so it would be a gun start.  We were directed to line up to the left of the finishing chute for the start of the race.  I had no idea which direction we would be running.  A guy asked me that very question and I told him I just planned to follow the pack once the gun sounded.  It actually worked out well as the runners were very spread out and only a few runners deep when the gun fired. [Actually, the race director said “go” and the gun fired shortly afterwards].  We ended up running across a field before hitting a residential street.  As confusing as this seemed, it actually worked out very well as the spacing allowed runners to quickly hit their pace and minimized the weaving and passing that usually takes up most of the first half mile.

I have to say that I do not like exercising in cold weather.  Some people swear by it and it’s supposed to help you run faster, but my lungs just don’t like cold air.  It always reminds me of smoking a menthol cigarette.

I quickly found a pace and settled into a groove.  I didn’t have to do much passing and was happy with the pace of the surrounding runners.  I was having a bit of trouble with my breathing.  I chalked that up to the cold air.  I had no idea what my pace was, but I quickly decided to just run a comfortable race and not worry about my time.  Runmeter announced that I was at about a 9 minute pace at the half mile mark and then at 8:50 once I hit the mile mark.  I was happy with that pace.  I knew that I needed to run less than 9:11/mile to PR and that seemed doable at that point.  I mentally noted that I had 21 seconds “in the bank”.  Then the wind hit me.

We turned a corner and headed right into a fairly strong (and cold) wind.  The course was probably the flattest course I’ve run, but that wind acted like a small hill.  We would make quite a few turns along the course, so it wasn’t a constant problem thankfully.

We ran primarilly though residential streets.  After the 1 mile mark we were all running single-file and there was a nice spacing between runners.  There were no mile markers on the course, so I had to trust Runmeter’s GPS.

The water stop seemed to come pretty early in the run.  It was well before the halfway mark (according to Runmeter).  I passed on the water.  I was planning on walking through the water stop, but it just seemed too early to do that.

We turned into the wind once again, but I was so surprised to see cows that it took my mind off of that angry gale.  The cows were amused by the runners and were trotting along the fence line watching us.  I’ve stated that I run like a cow.  That’s untrue.  Cows are faster than me.  I vowed to eat a giant hamburger when the race was over.

I finally took a quick walk break 1.62 miles in.  My pace had slipped to 9:01.  I was mad at myself for stopping.  My legs were fine and I was breathing normally (although the cold air was still piercing my lungs).  I consoled myself by noting that I had planned to walk the water stop, so this was actually a planned stop.  I could not use this excuse when I stopped again .7 miles later.

My pace had slipped to 9:14/mile and I was disgusted with myself.  I’m at a point where I should not be stopping during 5Ks.  There were no hills on this course, it’s a paved course (with the exception of the first and last 100 yards), and I wasn’t running at a blazing pace.  My stops were very short (probably 10 – 20 seconds) and I wasn’t losing ground to the runners ahead of me [whatever I lost during the walk, I pretty quickly regained when I started running again], but I was still disgusted for stopping.  I stopped for a third time at the 2.61 mile mark.  My pace had slipped to 9:19/mile and I wrote off a PR as I didn’t have much hope of making up 20 – 30 seconds over the last half mile to break my PR.

I was further disgusted at my last stop because shortly afterwards I could see the finish area off to my left.  It was still too far away to start sprinting, but it was close enough that my last stop was completely unnecessary.

As I made the final turn onto the grass, I resisted the urge to sprint the rest of the way.  I didn’t want to pass anyone this close to the finish as I was not going to PR and didn’t want to look like a goofball just picking off runners at the end of the run.  I did pick up my pace a bit and closed on the runner ahead of me.  I slowed up a bit so I would not pass her over the last 20 yards or so.  Then I saw the clock.  It read 27 something.  Holy crap.  I was not only sure to PR, but I had a chance at breaking 28 minutes.  I started sprinting.  I passed the woman ahead of me and saw the clock show 27:57…27:58…27:59…  I hit the mats and hit the stop button on Runmeter.  It didn’t stop.  It did it again and it stopped at 28:06.  Nuts.  I still had some hope though.  I had started Runmeter a bit before the gun fired and a couple of seconds had been lost trying to stop Runmeter.  There was still a slim chance that I broke 28 minutes with my official time.

I grabbed a banana and a glass of water.  I snapped a couple of photos of the finish area, dropped off my timing chip, then left.  I had actually planned to stick around for the drawings, but I was now sweaty and that made the cold wind feel even colder.

By the time I got home and took a shower, the official results were already posted (I love chip timed events).  I had finished with a time of 28:02 (9:03/mile).  THREE FREAKING SECONDS!!!  I could have easily made that time up over the final stretch or by skipping one of my stupid walk breaks.  Oh well.  I shaved 32 seconds off my PR.

This will be the last 5K I run this year. [I may do a local Thanksgiving Day 5K].  I am still slow and a noob, so my PRs should continue to fall.  I’ve shaved (nearly) five minutes off of my 5K time over the course of 3.5 months.  I know that I can run faster in the future.  I have to work on my stamina.  I think my training for longer runs will help with that.  I also need to do some regular speed work.  Although I’m never going to scare the front runners, I should be proud of my personal achievements.  This run also pushed me over 300 miles run this year (April – October, outdoors only).  That probably equals or exceeds the number of miles I’ve run in my entire life before this year.

I’m planning on running mostly half marathons next year, so I’ll probably only run a handful of 5Ks.  I am going to set my 5K goal for next year to run faster than 26 minutes.  That means an average pace of 8:22/mile.  If I can average 9:03/mile with three walk breaks (grrrr!!!!) then I think that I have a good shot at reaching this goal.

Next up is the Monster Dash 10 mile run at the end of the month.  This will be my first 10 mile race as well as my longest race yet.  My only goal is to finish.