Friday, completely crapped out on running. Got home, took a long nap, was so famished when I woke up and immediately went to dinner with Pat and Crystal. Got home way too late, not happy at myself for missing my run. Saturday, helped Barrel move into her new place, and took a long nap afterwards. Headed over to Nick's place for his daughter's birthday, and pretty much got assaulted by small children all afternoon in one of those blow-up jump stations kids have. Between moving and getting beat up by these kids, I was pretty tired/sore. Got home really late, but just wanted to get in some easy miles to shake off any rust (2 days off, barely any productive speedwork the last 2 weeks) so strapped on the shoes and got in a quick 3. Did a couple surges to get the legs moving, felt in control and as good as I was going to feel.
Race Morning
Sunday morning, woke up bright and early to see the wonderful rain had moved in the area. Drove to the race, and picked up my packet and t-shirt. Started raining some more, so chilled in the car and was goofing around on my phone to pass time. When it stopped, went out and jogged a little to re-acquaint myself with the course, which I had ran last year. The course is an out and back - you weave around some back roads for about 3/4 of a mile, end up on a main road which slopes upwards (decent grade more towards the top), then you run around some cones and come back. Weather was overcast and windy - in the 40's and sort of chilly actually. Brian and Mike eventually showed up, did a warmup with them, and did some dynamic stretching and strides to loosen up and get the fast twitch muscles ready to go. Stride felt good, and I felt as ready as I was going to be.
At the Start/Mile by Mile Report
Mile 1 - Lined up at the start - was sort of aggravated to see the first row of people were all children under the age of 10, so was trying to figure out how I wasn't going to run them over. Gun went off, and away we went! Went out pretty hard, settled into pace and went out with the lead pack. Was already starting to separate - the leader, Brian, then about 5 of us, so stuck in my pack and just tried to get into rhythm. Wind was in our face and swirling which made it a little more difficult. Passed a couple people, settled in behind a couple guys and coasted for a while. [Mile 1 - 5:48]
Mile 2 - Hit the harder part of hill, passed the female leader and another older guy, who immediately covered my move and bolted ahead of me. Made the turn around in 5th place and was really looking forward to running downhill and having the wind more in our favor. Coming back down the hill, you pass everyone you are ahead of, so was interesting to people watch when I could. At this point, I could hear everyone and their mother cheering for the girl I passed (she was first female) and apparently she was right on my heels because I felt like they were talking to me. Looked over my shoulder, there she was. Listened to about 200 more people cheer for her, when I started to get a little aggravated at the situation. I wasn't aggravated at her, but more that it seemed like everyone against me, so my blood was starting to boil a little. She passed me, and I immediately caught up to her. I was pretty hellbent on making her work if she was going to beat me. [Mile 2 - 6:01]
Mile 3 - Pace had picked back up at this point - she was surging, and I was covering all her moves. I didn't let her get more than 3 feet away from me. The guy ahead of us was too far up to catch, and looked like there were a couple guys about 10-15 seconds behind so it was just her and I. Let the crowd motivate me some more ("Go Candace!", "you got him!", "take him out!"), and just stuck on her shoulder. Felt a lot better at this point than I should have, but always 100000X's better to have someone there to push you. Saw we were headed towards the finish, waited until about a quarter mile out when I picked it up and started my kick. Gapped her a little, headed for the finish. [Mile 3 - 5:46]
Finish - Made the tactical mistake of not looking over my shoulder, felt something blazing towards me at ludicrous speed, and BARELY crossed the finish line before he did. One of the guys that was behind us must have unleashed the mother of all kicks, never saw that coming and luckily the race wasn't 10 feet more or I would have gotten caught. Regardless, finished pretty strong, was very pleased. [5K Time - 18:16]
Peter Kim M30
Clock Time: 18:16
Overall Place: 5/1200?
Gender Place: 5/?
Division Place: 1/?
Pace: 5:52/Mile
Pretty psyched after the race, went and talked to Candace, the overall female winner, and thanked each other for pushing each other and talked about future races (she is also racing Boston, which is cool). Brian had finished 2nd overall, so we talked to the other guys that finished around us. Mike finished shortly after in around 19:10, and was right behind me in the 30-34 age group! We did a cooldown, then came back for the awards and a few postrace brews.
Final Thoughts
Very pleased with the results, was pretty blind coming into the race so had no expectations other than hoping to break 19 minutes. The course PR was nice, and I felt really strong the entire race and had a pretty good day. The crappy week of running plus sickness might have helped a little, since I was forced to scale back on the intensity. Got home, took a huge nap, woke up and it was still nice outside, so decided to get in an easy PM run. Did an out and back on the trails, lots of people out and it was just a gorgeous evening. Got carried away trying to catch up with a cute girl that was ahead of me, legs just weren't there, but felt pretty good. Total mileage: 6 miles - sans watch, but easy pace.
Went to Pat and Crystal's for dinner - Crystal made yummy ratatouille, and we watched the Oscars together. My movie "Up in the Air" got completely shut out, which made me mad that I was the only cast member to win anything that day! Fun times, fun weekend.
P.S. Crystal gets a big shout out for her 61 mile week, biggest one of the year from any of us! Go Crystal!
Brian, me, and Mike
Bringing home some gold
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