2004 Bluebonnet 5K
The bad news was that the weather for this morning’s race was a little warm, a little humid, and incredibly windless. The good news was that I still managed a PR by 20 seconds. In retrospect, I should probably have done even better than I did, since the last 5K I did was fairly hilly - but hey, a PR is a PR, right?
I was about 5 seconds back from the starting line when the airhorn went off. We headed out and around Burnet’s main square, where the vendors were all set up for the bluebonnet festival. This was a little annoying in one spot, as we all ran through the smoke from one of the brisket vendors, but otherwise a good way to start things off without a mass of people wanting to watch right at the starting line. I had lined up with Rick who was planning on doing 20-21, and I realized about half a mile into the race that I was far too close to him, since I was only looking to do 26-27. Sure enough, I had been running at about a 7:30 pace. I backed off, but still turned the first mile in at a very respectable 7:59.
For miles two and three, I ran alongside someone who I didn’t know, but she was doing my comfortable pace almost exactly. I was trying to keep my breathing to 2-steps-inhale, 3-steps-exhale for most of the distance, dropping down to 2-2 for the steeper hills; I was able to do so fairly comfortably. Those miles went by at a remarkably consistent pace - 8:51 for the second, and 8:49 for the third. These were off my ForeRunner, so there was a bit more than .1 mile remaining afterwards - I’m still not great at running efficient curves, especially since I try hard to stay on top of the road crown as much as possible to help my ITB.
I kicked it up a little bit with about .15 remaining, and when I got to the last 100m or so someone - I don’t know who, but he was wearing a red shirt - came up fast on my right hand side. That was all I needed, as I flat out sprinted to the finish line, leaving him way behind. It felt great; I was able to do long strides, fast turnover, and good high kicks all the way in. That’s how I love to finish these races, even if it is inefficient.
Distance: 5K
Time: 26:51
Pace: 8:36
See also the addendum to this entry.
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Apr 11th 2004
11:42 AM
Congrats on the new PR, especially on a hilly course!
Apr 14th 2004
1:55 PM
Great job, Richard! I was just thinking about the fact that I should probably start running a couple of 5Ks just to see what I can do. I’ve only run one 5K and that was 2 years ago, but I don’t remember my time. It was so probably so pitiful that I didn’t want to remember it!
Apr 14th 2004
3:03 PM
Thanks to both of you! Rebecca, my first 5K time (that I actually ran) was on the order of 35 minutes. Until about a month ago, my PR was still over 33 minutes. That was a big part of why I wanted to run one. But they’re fun, too - and a good way to see the results of speedwork.