I hope you don't mind a longish race report …
Pre-race Report
I had the two best runs of my 'summer' in the past 10 days. They were ~6 mile progression runs:
Last Week just one good run: 6miles @ 10:20, 8:54, 8:44, 8:35, 8:26, 7:42
Lots of rest for one reason or another. I think I just couldn't run because the wife and I were in a real good row.
Monday 5.5miles @ 9:50, 9:23, 8:40, 8:14, 7:46, 6:55 (for 0.5) - Hardest run/workout for me all year. Was flying for the last mile.
Tuesday On the toilet (just barely made it) resting up for Wednesday's colonoscopy
Wednesday - Still on the toilet and at the hospital for colonoscopy
Thursday - Ran 4.5 miles @ 9:20 pace. Can still feel Monday's run in my left hip.
Friday - More rest.
Race Report
My 5K post 1987 PR (before I stopped running for nearly 30 years) prior to this year was: 24:41. My goal for this year was 22:00. This year I've run: 23:16 in July and 23:24 in a trail/road race 3 weeks ago.
My goal: 22:30 or better.
Youngest daughter, 11 yo, is running with me and has plans to pace me through two miles @ 7:20 pace, at which point she will take a 1-minute walking rest and finish up. Hopefully she will be able to do this as she's averaged 7:00 for 1.5 mile races this fall in middle school cross-country.
Wife is still recovering from her funky knee, but is planning to run, and as competitive as she is I expect her to try to kick my butt.
Woke up to 42* and RAIN. I don't want to run in the rain and cold. I told the wife NO GO. She harassed me for the next hour. OK, maybe I was already in an amenable mood with Saturday morning shenanigans ;). I walked up my daughter and told her she could back out if she wanted to. I don't want to make the kid miserable. It has to be her choice.
So we all choose to race. We've got all kinds of gear. Hats and gloves and tights and jackets and long sleeves. Pulling out XS stuff of wife's for the kid.
The race is a very small affair compared to some of the 'MONSTER' Halloween races; 450 people - 300 in the 5K and 150 in the 10K approx. The race is around a local lake here in southwest Minneapolis so it should be flat and fast despite the chill and rain.
My wife decides to run in the 10K. Not sure why. She runs a very respectable 48:11 and finishes 7th overall and 3rd among females. No, it wasn't super competitive.
Nor, super intelligently organized. The 10K started 15 minutes prior to the 5K and finished amongst the 5K finishers. And, the leaders of the 5K caught up to trailers of the 10K in the first mile, so it was kind of a mess. But, at least those 10Kers provided some motivation because I mostly ran by myself.
The Race -
I took my daughter out for one last stride before the race and we came back directly in the front of the corral. She was apoplectic. What was I doing? We need to go to the back! No, we are going to the front! We are not going to weave our way past all the walkers.
We slipped into the third row with a lot of sidelong looks at the 11 yo. Hey, this kid is going to blow your doors off. I was looking at the guy with the stroller in the front row. Now, that's totally not cool.
Somehow, in the third row we managed to get behind two older (40s, older right) people in costumes with those super stringy backpacks. I'm pretty sure they aren't going to be running.
The gun goes and after side-stepping a few folks I'm in 4th place…until I get passed at the half-mile mark (no actual mark) by the guy with the stroller. I won't see him again until the finish. I guess he really deserved to be in the front row. I didn't actually check to see if he was running with a kid in the stroller.
My 11yo daughter is not with me; and I don't blame her. My pace as viewed through my Garmin was all over the place. I went out in 6:40s, slowed to 7:20s, sped up within that first mile to 6:30s (may have been a downhill). So, I went through that first mile in 7:07, and I'm a little nervous about the pace.
Second mile was much more evenly paced coming through 2 miles at 14:15 for a 7:08 mile.
I want to quit! I am way over-extended. I don't have my heart rate monitor, but I'm not feeling too good. I'm thinking about stopping and walking for 30 seconds to get my breathing back under control.
But, I'm in 5th place. You can't stop and walk when you are in 5th place!
OK, so I slow it down. Just try to take it nice and even and try to get it back under control. It's working and we're doing OK, for a minute or two. The last half mile had its ups and downs both emotionally and physically. I had the requisite conversation with myself about NEVER RUNNING A RACE AGAIN.
Somehow I brought that last mile in at a 7:13. Nobody passed me except stroller guy the entire race. 1 guy chip-timed me.
I finished 6th in 22:08. 2nd place went to a 56 year old guy in 18:34. Not too shabby. So, for the 2nd race in a row, I finish in the top 6, but don't take Top 50s honors. Those 50 year olds are TOUGH.
I PR'd by 1:07 from July and 2:33 from July of 2014.
I'm considering my 22:00 goal for the year as Mission Accomplished!
11 yo daughter finished 3rd female in 24:11. She PR'd by 3:05 from a 5K that I ran with her on Sarasota Beach back in April. She ran super well-paced from what I can surmise and had some funny stories about little mini-battles in the race. And, maybe she had quite a bit more in the tank as she said, "Coming over that one hill you could see all of the buildings down-town." I looked at my wife and smirked. Who enjoys the view in the middle of a race? She needs to hurt more.
Hope you enjoyed.
Cheers
Ken