That DAM 5k - 19:49

I woke up this morning very early and laid in bed for a long time thinking about nothing and everything. One thing I was thinking about was what my legs were going to feel like for running a 5k today. I told Jill the night before I was in for the race, my legs felt good last night and Gina had to work today and I've wanted to do that race for years, so... I committed, I was in for the 5k.

You should never do a race after a long run or a speed workout and usually you want a rest day near by to rest your legs and heal the micro-fibres etc. I knew I shouldn't do it. I laid in bed thinking if my legs were sore I would either run around the park waiting for Jill to finish and save the $30 entry fee or maybe run it easy under an alias (so none of my fellow runners pick me out of the on-line results and bash me with a slow time and no excuses) or maybe just lay in bed and text Jill that I was out for the day (more bashing...). When I got up and started walking I was sore and thought oh boy, no race. I looked out the window expecting sunshine and it was cloudy and 38, where was the 70 degree sunny Sunday I was expecting. I did not want to race today.

When I got in the car with Jill, I told her I was 50/50 about just running easy and not racing. She said "What are you doing here then?". I thought she was going to stop the car and push me out. Never mind that she has said this to me on many occasions including last week. So I guess that shocked me and when we got there, I was grumpy, but I went right to the table and registered. One thing I did not want was to push my sore legs and have another injury especially a calf injury with Moab less than 3 weeks away.

It was still cold out, we changed into our racing clothes (version 1.0) and pinned on our numbers and put on our chips and ran over to some porta-pottis on the other side of the park, as we were running I felt things loosen up and started thinking maybe I could squeak out a sub-20 5k. That is my make or break number 20 minutes. Over and I am disappointed, under and I am elated. I have different numbers for different distances and it changes depending on my fitness level but 20 is the 5k number.

When the race started I felt good, a slow start because of the pack, I had to push Jill out of my way :). The DAM looks flat, but when you run it, it has a crest. You run out 1 1/2 miles and then back. After about 1/2 mile, the pack thinned out and everyone settled into their race pace. I could see Jay S ahead of me and pulling away as usual. He's in my age group (for 2 more weeks). I was running around 6:15 according to my Garmin and felt pretty good the first mile. I started to feel it a bit at the turn around. I inspected the 15 or so runners in front of me to see how many might be in my age group. I counted 4 including Jay that could be. I passed 2 of them in the 2nd mile, where my pace had slowed a bit, but I still felt good, I thought maybe I had 3rd in my division, so don't let anyone else pass.

At about 2 1/2 miles my quads and upper leg muscles were screaming, felt like they were burning from yesterdays long run and a solid week of running with speed work etc. I was so glad this was a 5k and not a 5 mile run. I was calculating in my head that sub-20 was there, I just needed to keep the pace. One thing about this run is you can see the whole course most of the way, so the finish line was in site and seemed a long ways away. My Garmin had a great signal and I knew exactly how far it was to run. When I got to 2.85, I thought about the track and how all I needed to do was run a 1:45 quarter to get in under 20, that helped.

So I finished in 19:49. (19:53 on their clock). A 6:23 pace. I felt really good about it considering how sore I was and almost dodged the race. I ended up getting 3rd in my Division and 18th overall (results posted below). Jay S got 2nd in the age group (40-49) and some 40 year old won our division. It was a small race, but I'll take my 3rd place $5 gift certificate to runners roost (on the other side of town).

Jill finished 2nd in her age group, 22:35. She had a good race, first time under 23 in a long time. Here's a link to her blog with a description and some pictures. There were some funny moments and it was fun, I will link to her blog when she posts it. Thanks for the race Jill and thanks for kicking me in the butt this morning too, guess that's what running buddies do huh?

Thanks Gina for being so understanding for my running and the races and the training and the icing and the moaning with pain and discomfort and the complaining and everything that comes with being married to the obsessed runner that I have become. Thanks for working and for being there.

Garmin Watch Data for the Race

2009 Race Results