Saturday, August 11, 2007

The Race Report

Arizona Road Racers Summer Series Race #5 is now officially over. It was a great race. I saw Mark, Lisa and Chad. It was nice to talk with Chad for the first time.

I wanted to get a PR in this race and maybe go below 30 minutes for the first time in a 5k. Since it was an out and back course and mostly uphill going out, I wanted to make the turn around in 15 minutes. I thought I was just seconds off that mark, but I see now I was over a minute off the pace for the first half of the race. As I was ascending the mountain (I know it's not a mtn. like the Rockies, but play along with me), I kept telling myself that this was the time to work and I needed to "get half way in 15 minutes". I got thier in 16:21. On the downhill I thought I could make up lots of time. I was hoping for a 13 minute second half. But, I was gassed. I did the best I could, but that was not enough. With a mile left I heard two boys behind me say they were tired. So was I. I let them pass me and I told them they were my pacers. I needed them to bring me home. We talked about school (5th grade) and teachers. I then asked them if they were going to beat me. They said yes, but I said we'll see. I have a mean kick at the end.

With a half mile to go, I picked it up a bit and one kid said, "Is that your kick?" I laughed and said not yet. I did walk for a bit and the two boys kept going. With about 1/10 mile to go, I kicked. They had about half the distance to go to finish and I was running hard. There was a turn at the end and I couldn't run it at full speed (but I didn't crash either). My garmin told me that I was doing about a 4 minute mile at that point (wouldn't it be great if I could keep that up). I finished right behind the boys. I believe (official times not out yet), I finished under 33 minutes. A couple minutes away from PR-ing and no where near under 30.

I'm really happy with the race. My splits were in the 9's and 10's when I wasn't walking. I only took one walk break going out. Unfortunately, I took 5 on the way in. I was hoping the downhill would help me more than it did. Looking back, I did went out in 16.21 and returned in 16.35.



Now, I just have to find another race.


2 comments:

J~Mom said...

You had a fantastic race!! Congrats!!! You have really worked hard the last month and it shows!! WOOHOO!!

Randy - Maniac #788 said...

I agree it was a great race..considering the heat that you both ran in.....

I need to ask how you post the screen pics of your Garmin..that is what you posted at the end of this post right?

BTW....I can easily turn any hill into one of the tallest Rocky Mountains in short order....