Rockets Run 5K
The Rockets Run 5K was this morning at 8 AM. The temperature at the start was about 60 - good enough for a 5K, but if it's the same next Sunday it's going to be a brutal day.
Before the race, my training partner and I did sprints and I really wasn't feeling it. That, coupled with the slower than expected pace in the two runs this past week where I really tried to push it, had me a little concerned. My performance merited that concern. I hit the first mile at 6:02 but felt like I had just put in a 5:40. I was winded and knew my best hope was just to hang on to that pace. The course ran away from the Toyota Center and under the Pierce Eelevated. The street was in poor condition for running. Very uneven throughout, from layer upon of layer of re-surfacing. Not good. I wasn't worried so much about turning an ankle as I felt that my speed was a bit impacted by it. Anyway, I hit the second mile in 6:04 so at least I was holding on. And I passed the only female who had been in front of me.
As we headed back toward the Toyota Center I was afraid that the course was going to be short again but after a couple of turns and a roundabout method of getting to the arena it worked out. I managed to reel in 5 runners in the last half of mile 3. I hit mile 3 in 5:56 but didn't feel like I had gone any faster. That mile marker was inside the shoot as you cleared the first decline into the arena. I clicked my watch at mile 3 for a total of 18:02. Then I took another 43 seconds to get to the finish line, which tells me that the final .1 was easily 12 to 15 seconds long. Finishing time was just a hair under 18:45. I finished 20th overall and was the 20th male.
The post race scenario was a joke. No fruit. This has to be the first of the 60 races I've done where they didn't have a stinking banana or orange slice. They had pizza, and hot dogs (very healthy, huh?), but they marked your number so you couldn't go back through the line. God forbid someone get an extra slice of pizza that was donated anyway. There was some cool-looking fruit drink but the line for that was around the building. They did have some sodas, which would have been nice, except the Diet Pepsi expired last July, and tasted like it. The awards ceremony was non-existent. I think they said something about recognizing the top 3 males and females, but I think that might have been supposed to take place tonight at the game. I remember the first year at least, they called out every person who finished in the top 50 so they could come up and accept their award. This race had ridiculous lines two years ago too, but I don't remember sodas that were 7 months out of code.
Not sure why my time was so far off my 5K PR (18:11). I haven't really been training for the shorter stuff but my overall fitness level should be at it's best ever. I had a cold a couple of weeks ago that moved to my chest and isn't completely gone, but that hasn't affected my training runs. I know I could use a new pair of shoes before the marathon - they didn't feel too springy today. Just not really sure why I was slow today. I could handle reaching a plateau, or even reaching my physical limit, but for all the training I've done, I shouldn't be going backward, especially when I need to go into next weekend confident!
Oh well. I still managed another sub 19 (only my third) and ran a nice even pace.
Before the race, my training partner and I did sprints and I really wasn't feeling it. That, coupled with the slower than expected pace in the two runs this past week where I really tried to push it, had me a little concerned. My performance merited that concern. I hit the first mile at 6:02 but felt like I had just put in a 5:40. I was winded and knew my best hope was just to hang on to that pace. The course ran away from the Toyota Center and under the Pierce Eelevated. The street was in poor condition for running. Very uneven throughout, from layer upon of layer of re-surfacing. Not good. I wasn't worried so much about turning an ankle as I felt that my speed was a bit impacted by it. Anyway, I hit the second mile in 6:04 so at least I was holding on. And I passed the only female who had been in front of me.
As we headed back toward the Toyota Center I was afraid that the course was going to be short again but after a couple of turns and a roundabout method of getting to the arena it worked out. I managed to reel in 5 runners in the last half of mile 3. I hit mile 3 in 5:56 but didn't feel like I had gone any faster. That mile marker was inside the shoot as you cleared the first decline into the arena. I clicked my watch at mile 3 for a total of 18:02. Then I took another 43 seconds to get to the finish line, which tells me that the final .1 was easily 12 to 15 seconds long. Finishing time was just a hair under 18:45. I finished 20th overall and was the 20th male.
The post race scenario was a joke. No fruit. This has to be the first of the 60 races I've done where they didn't have a stinking banana or orange slice. They had pizza, and hot dogs (very healthy, huh?), but they marked your number so you couldn't go back through the line. God forbid someone get an extra slice of pizza that was donated anyway. There was some cool-looking fruit drink but the line for that was around the building. They did have some sodas, which would have been nice, except the Diet Pepsi expired last July, and tasted like it. The awards ceremony was non-existent. I think they said something about recognizing the top 3 males and females, but I think that might have been supposed to take place tonight at the game. I remember the first year at least, they called out every person who finished in the top 50 so they could come up and accept their award. This race had ridiculous lines two years ago too, but I don't remember sodas that were 7 months out of code.
Not sure why my time was so far off my 5K PR (18:11). I haven't really been training for the shorter stuff but my overall fitness level should be at it's best ever. I had a cold a couple of weeks ago that moved to my chest and isn't completely gone, but that hasn't affected my training runs. I know I could use a new pair of shoes before the marathon - they didn't feel too springy today. Just not really sure why I was slow today. I could handle reaching a plateau, or even reaching my physical limit, but for all the training I've done, I shouldn't be going backward, especially when I need to go into next weekend confident!
Oh well. I still managed another sub 19 (only my third) and ran a nice even pace.
posted by Lance Collins at 7:01 PM
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