AMA 5K

Seven days after running my brains out in the Lincoln Memorial Half Marathon I ran a very sedate 5K race in Washington Park. The temps about an hour before race time were in the high 30s/low 40s with rain and 20 mph winds in the area. I ran a mile warm-up before leaving my house in about 8:03 and ran another mile when I got to the race with Patty and Molly. I felt loose as I stepped to the line but when the gun went off I just wasn't feeling it. I ran the first mile with my friend Matt who was running his first race since July 4th of 2007 due to some Achilles tendonitis. We went through the mile mark in 6:39.52 after which I remarked, "6:39? I thought we were running faster." I threw down a hard surge after that and passed six or seven guys before the two mile mark. I hit two in 13:17.70 running a 6:38.18 mile split. I was feeling pretty good as I headed down the big hill toward the Carillon but was in a huge "no man's land" between packs. I tried to make up as much ground on the two guys ahead of me as I could but wasn't able to get within 20 seconds of them before the finish. I crossed the line in 20:35.08 running the last 1.1 in 7:17.38. According to the pace calculator I use I ran the last 1.1 in 6:37 pace which means that I ran a very even paced race.

I never felt terribly uncomfortable. In fact, I felt very relaxed and in control the whole race. I ran 20:23 last year two weeks after crashing hard in the half marathon and coming down with bronchitis and after having spent the night in the ER with my son and his ear infection. I placed 13th overall today but only 5th in my age group.

I need to go now because my son just covered himself in the adhesive from one of those sticky mouse traps.