Total Time: 20:30
AP: 6:37
AG: 3rd of 26
Overall: 44 of 3,015
Well I set a new PR for my 5k, but as Jen has pointed out before I now have a fast PR and it might take me a couple of attempts to beat it. We got up around 6:10am on Sunday because the half marathon (which Jen was running) started at 7:30 and they were passing out the timing chips the morning of the race instead of at the expo on Saturday. After dropping her off I stopped back by our house to get ready for my race which would start at 8:30. Both races finished in the same place so I knew I should be able to finish my race in time to see Jen come in. I arrived at the start area about 30 minutes before the race was supposed to start so I found a little spot of sun which I stood in for a few minutes to warm up. Once I was warm I walked around a little bit and checked out the vendors. Clif had a tent set up and they were giving away bags of clif blox - I grabbed two bags and ran back over to the car to drop them off (can't pass up on free clif blox). By that time it was about 10 minutes to the start so I headed over to the start area and ran up and down the street a couple of times to get warmed up.
The start was your typical 5k start crowded with little kids and people that don't really give off the "I'm planning on running fast" vibe. I stood behind a guy I have seen before and know is fast so when the horn sounded I was able to get out away from the crowds before it got jammed up. This was the first race where I actually planned on running fast and it made me nervous at first; would I keep a good pace? Was I running too fast? Too slow? etc. etc. etc. My heart was pounding and I felt anxious as I ran through the first half mile or so. When I am out by myself it seems fairly easy to set a quick pace and stick with it, but when there are other people around my perception of my pace/speed gets a bit warped. After a bit I settled into a good groove but at the same time noticed that we had passed the area that I knew to be approx 1 mi from the start so I just kept my eyes peeled for the 2 mi marker. The run was starting to get a bit harder at this point but I kicked myself into gear by thinking "Gee, how do you think Macca felt at mile 20 of the marathon yesterday - HTFU Zach, HTFU!!" Right about this time I passed the two mile marker - miles 1 and 2; 12:58.
Right about this time I started getting the familiar feeling of "here come the dry heaves" but I just focused on the people in front of me and kept on running. The last mile comes around a corner where I could see about a half mile or so down the road. I knew that around the next corner was the finish so I pushed hard and started passing a few people. Now these weren't fly by passes but more like running right behind, then with, then slightly in front of, then past people. I rounded the last corner and pushed as hard as I could across the finish line. Last 1.1 mi; 7:31. As I crossed the line the volunteers pulled my tag off my number and put a sticker on my bib. I needed to get out of the chute ASAP since I could feel my stomach telling me that it was mere seconds till it took matters into it's own hands. I rushed out and walked toward the street and away from the crowds, took a few breaths, then walked it out for a couple of minutes. I am happy to say I remained master of my body and did not experience the dry heaves of last week.
After walking back to the crowds I saw the table with the technical shirts for the Top 50 finishers. Right about then I heard one of the ladies at the table say "be sure to mark their sticker once they get their shirt." I looked down and thought "holy shit! I have a sticker" Sure enough I had placed in the top 50 so I received a short sleeved technical shirt (the green shirt in the pics) and a long sleeve white technical shirt. Both are by Brooks and are really nice. At the end of the day I ended up with two more technical shirts (one short sleeve and one long) because Jen placed in the top 25 women in the half marathon but they only had large and med shirts so she gave her shirts to me! You can read her race report here. Be sure to check it out - she also placed 3rd in her AG and set a PR!
It was a great race for both of us. Here are some pics from after we were finished:
4 comments:
Great job out there- I knew you could do it. That's a 2 minute improvement off your 5k time of 3 months ago... WOW. You have come so far in so little time, it's going to be cool to see how fast you can get. Congrats on your medal too. :) A great day for us both!!
congrats on the PR.
You are both so fast!!!
Great race report.
Awesome! You guys are official Mr. & Mrs. Speedsters!
Zach - thanks for stopping by my blog lately. I didn't know about your blog but I'll come back again. Sorry I missed you and Jen at Firetrails.
Congrats on your PR. Based on your 5K speed, I'd guess that your half-marathon PR will drop pretty substantially the next time you give it a go. Keep up the great training.
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