The morning began as any raceday morning would: in the dark. The first light is always the hardest to turn on when it's still dark out. I have it down to a science by now, though, where I can turn on the bathroomlight and then stay in my room until my eyes are adjusted to the light from the bathroom, then I can finally make my way in and face the day.
I got my bag packed up with some food, drink, spikes, etc. I hit the road a little after 6:00am and it was still pretty dark. I pulled off 95 a half hour or so later and sun had begun to show signs of rising. In addition to the light, a thick fog had settled on the Florida inland, restricting visibility to less than 100 meters. I pulled into "Pointe West," one of the the many Levittown-esque housing developemnts in South Florida. I followed the line of cars with "run" and "26.2" stickers and parked on a large field.
By the time I got checked in, got my t-shirt, and had gotten back to my car to regroup, the sun was a giant gleaming ball just above the tree-line. I looked at my watch: 7:10. Still too early to start the warmup. So, I sat back in my car and read about Quentin Cassidy's race against famed Australian miler, Jon Walton. The selection always gets my blood pumping and puts me in my most competetive of mindsets.
I finished the chapter and headed out for a few easy miles before the race. The 7:30 pace felt remarkably stiff and difficult, but I find that it almost always does before a race. In fact, I can't remember the last race when I DIDN'T think to myself "Oh my gosh, if it's this hard to run 7:30 pace, how am I going to run [race pace]???"
Following Quentin's advice, I ran away from the hubub of the race and down a long dirt road for a few miles. When I headed back, people were already lining up, so I headed over to my car to change into my spikes. After my terrible experience with wet socks weighing me down the other day, I decided to risk it and go barefoot. I've always liked this, though I've been known to get blisters.
I did my drills on the way over to the line and a few strides. I felt solid on my strides, like I was getting a really high turnover, so I felt decent while toeing off.
The signal was just a "GO" shouted into a megaphone. There was a bit of chaos but by the end of the first stretch (maybe 300m), I was already alone. I looked down at my watch which said I was running 5:00 pace, so I eased up a bit after that.
Running alone on a quick race like the 5k is a hard thing to do. It's remarkably easy to slow down and not know it when there's no one around you.
Anyways, I came through the 1 mile in 5:21, which I figured would be on the fast end of my goal pace given the quick start (by the way, I will post all of my half mile splits at the bottom for anyone who's interested). Also, before I forget, going into this race Jon and I had set my goal time as 16:40-50 which is about 5:21-5:25/mile pace. Given that I've done very little speed-work and mostly base running and I ran a half marathon 6 days ago, I didn't expect this race to be a monster PR or anything.
Anyways, the second mile was a loop though fog-filled Levittown before heading back to the first mile's road and back to the finish. The course was pretty poorly marked. This neighborhood was a maze of identical streets with identical houses on streets that were all labeled 32nd Ave or 76th Blvd. The turns were marked with flour which I'm sure lasted through about the first 20 runners. With the fog, I'm amazed I didn't get lost.
When my watch told me I was at the 2.5 mile mark, I picked it up a bit. I've been practicing surges at the end of my moderate runs, which I think paid off well. My last 800 was tied with my first for the fastest of the race and I had a good amount of energy to kick in the last 200m or so.
It was a good feeling crossing that line first. I know it may have been a po-dunk race without any real competition, but it was still a good feeling. A win is a win, no matter how inconsequential.
Anyways, I got a little trophy and then I headed back here. I've just been chillin out the rest of the day. I did a bit of grocery shopping and a light pool run workout this afternoon. I'm planning on doing a long run tomorrow of 16-20 miles, depending on heat, humidity, etc.
All in all, I'm much more pleased with today's race than Sunday's half. Besides the ego-boost, I think it was a better performance overall and my time more accurately reflected my effort, which is the most important thing.
EDIT: Here are the 1/2 mile splits I forgot to add:
Pace Total
2:39 2:39
2:42 5:21 (5:21 Mile)
2:51 8:13
2:45 10:58 (5:36 mile)
2:45 13:43
2:39 16:23 (5:24 mile)
0:24 16:47 (Last .1 and Finish)
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