Ho-Ho-Ho Race Report

Today was 5k day. I haven't run one in a while and I had the marathon in between, so I really didn't know what to expect. Based on experience and judging my fitness, I thought I had it in me to run a 23:30, but I didn't have a lot to go on.

I got no sleep last night, tossing and turning the whole night. This turned out to be a good thing because my Iphone alarm was set to go off on weekdays only and never alarmed. As it was, I woke up on my own just ten minutes late. Got dressed and hit the road for the 45 min. drive to the race in Bethpage.

I got there about 90 minutes before the race. I like to be there early for a number of reasons. First, I was doing race day sign up. It was $5 more but I like this option just in case it rains. But the weather was perfect. I got there, signed up, and got my sweatshirt with no lines. Reason #1 I like to be early. Then I went back to my car to stay warm for a bit. Then, as everyone else began to arrive I made use of the biological facilities before the lines formed. Reason #2 I like to be early.

With my business out of the way and about 50 mins to race time, I jogged a mile. My pre-warm-up warm-up. Back to the car for a few minutes. Then with 25 minutes to race time, I jogged out a half mile and then ran back with a few fartleks at 5k race pace.

The line was already beginning to form near the start so I joined it and tried to stay warm. This race only had a gun start and 1400 runners, so I didn't want to be too far from the front and lose a lot of time on the clock. I ended up about 10 rows back.

The gun went off and I tried to keep a reasonable pace. I settled in behind this dude who was wearing tight red and white shorty shorts, a race shirt from 1989, and green christmas tree ear rings. He was easy to keep sight of for obvious reasons and running about the right pace so I decided to stick with him for a while.

First mile clocked at 7:30 even. Given that it took me about 10 seconds to get to the starting line after the gun, around a 7:20 I'd say. Mile 2 I just tried to keep steady but I think I took my foot off the gas a little too much and hit mile 2 at the 15:02 mark. I picked up on the first half of the 3rd mile and passed a few people but I didn't try to sprint or anything. Just nice and steady, this was just a B race at best for me and really just a point in time measurement as I begin my next phase of training.

I came across the finish line with a clock time of 23:35. So in reality I'd put it at around 10 seconds faster given the start. Let's call it 23:30 even and a 7:35/min pace. All told, kinda where I expected to be. I am happy in that I did not seem to lose any fitness since the marathon and my lower mileage schedule. I would like to get the 5k below 22 mins by spring.

Now I begin my abbreviated half marathon training for the next couple of weeks getting ready for the Manhattan half on January 21. That gives me 3 solid weeks of training to see if I can get under 1:50 there.

All in all, a good day.

Posted in: 5k,race report