Ah yes, a 5k recap. 5ks are just not as fun to recap as say halves, because it’s 20 minutes of a race. 20 minutes that your legs burn and the last thing you want to do is amuse yourself because you are in that much pain.
With that I guess I’ll begin. I ran my first mile in 5:49 (that is a Pr for me and it was on trails…so I know I can do faster on a track). The course itself was not hilly in the slightest (a few dips and baby bumps but coming from the base of the Adirondacks…no). What got me and took a toll were the amount of turns and twists. Apparently that adds a lot of time from changing direction and whatnot, it makes sense but I never thought about it that way.
Either way mile 2 and 3, I was paced by a 13 year old kid (who beat me at my 10k two weeks ago and beat me again today). I hit mile 2 at exactly 12:10 (meaning my second mile was a 6:21 pace). I was not too thrilled about that, I kept thinking gah-what if I add 20 more seconds. But then relaxed because I knew either way the next part of pain would only be about 6-7 minutes.
I was dying. It was hot but honestly having someone running near me was comforting. My thought process was just lost in my old little world the entire race and I preferred it that way. The final stretch was hard but I finished the race in 19:30.
I hoping my next road 5k will be even lower and closer to 19:15. I can hope for many things.
This was my fastest 5k in close to two years (I literally PRed a 5k 4months after beginning running (19:15) and haven’t been anywhere close to that since. I thought it was a fluke). I still do until I break it. But this was my second fastest 5k, first fastest on a cross country course and well just a well organized and great race. Mostly because they had starbucks coffee at the end. 😉
Question for you: What is your favorite race distance?