Well, I Guess That's Why PRs Are So Special

I did the Heights 5K this morning. My goal was to go sub 18 if possible. If not, I wanted to lower my 18:11 PR. Neither happened but I did my best. As I said in the title, I guess that's why PRs are so special - they're tough to come by. If they weren't they'd lose their impact.

I started off just about where I wanted to be. If I was going to go sub 18 I'd need to run a 5:48 pace. Like most people, my goal is always to run a negative split, or as close to a flat pace as possible, though it never works out that way. So 5:50 for the first mile seemed perfect. And I wasn't dying or anything at that pace either. I felt like I maintained it in the second mile but I didn't. My second mile was 5:57. Not that I went through these mental calculations at the time, but that would mean that I was 11 seconds behind my goal pace through 2 miles, meaning that I'd have had to run a 5:40 third mile or so, and make up the other 3 seconds in the final 1/10th. I suppose that's not out of the realm of possibility, but it wasn't possible today. My third mile was a 6:05, putting me at 17:52 through 3 miles. I can usually cover the final 1/10th in 32 or 33 seconds, and have done it as quickly as 29. At the pace I was running that last mile in I'd cover the last 1/10th in 36 seconds if I just held pace. But I picked it up and held off a guy who was trying to take me at the very end. Soooooo, the 37 seconds (according to my watch) that it took me to cover the final 1/10th was a bit of a surprise. I'm pretty sure the final 1/10th was 3 or 4 seconds long, but it's not like those 3 or 4 seconds would have gotten me sub 18 or a new PR so I'm not going to whine. According to my watch I finished in 18:29, my 2nd fastest 5K, and good enough for third place in the 40-49 age group. So, I have no regrets. I ran as best as I could, I didn't start too fast and blow up, and I held off a guy at the end. And the hardware is icing on the cake.

My running partner, Brian K. had a similar day. He ran an 18:22, missed his goal of sub 18, missed his PR by 9 seconds, and finished third in his age group. But he kicked my butt! And our other running buddy, Steve S., who is on injured reserve, was a good sport and came out to cheer us on. He's been recovering for over three weeks now and has less than three weeks to go, if six weeks is the number he needs to hit.

I met Erin Foley today, finally, after all these years. She's a great, dedicated runner , who probably concurs with my blog title - just run, dammit. She turned in an excellent 19 something, a solid time for anyone. I also visited with John Yoder, who finished third overall, and met his sister. And Jacob Tonge was hangin' with us before and after the race. He posted a nice 19:15. We also spent some time talking training with Carlo Deason, who finished fourth overall. And lastly, it was great to see the race warhorse, Jon Walk out there today, along with his daughter. Oh, and a big attaboy to Steve S.'s brother Doug, who did manage to get a PR today, posting a 17:44. I foolishly thought I might be able to hang with him today. So did Brian. Ugh..., no!

Total distance : 3.1 miles (+.5 warmup), 18:29 (5:58 pace).