Yesterday I raced the Running Scared 5K, my second race since knee surgery, and my first race since early June. The Running Scared 5K is put on by the City of Watauga’s Parks and Community Services folks, and is held at the city’s Community Center. This was the 3rd year for the race, and while it is a small race, it is growing at healthy rate. It’s well organized, with mile markers, and times being called out to runners at each mile. Though this year’s race was hand-timed, I hear that they are looking at being chip-timed and having the course certified for next year.
Unlike past races, in the lead up to the Running Scared 5K, I didn’t openly obsess about my goals, pace strategies, etc. Instead, I spent the week leading up to the race in a quiet “preparation” mode, so much so that Julie was surprised that I was even racing. Even in the day before and the morning of the race, I never mentioned anything other than what time the race started, and when I wanted to leave the house. I’m sure Julie wondered who kidnapped her husband, but not wanting to jumpstart my obsessing, she kept quiet. While I haven’t been putting in any structured training, I did have some specific goals for this race:
Saturday morning was a typical race-day morning, it just got started a little later than normal. One thing I really like about the Running Scared 5K is its 9 AM start time. That, coupled with its close proximity to our house, makes it a perfect race option. After a leisurely breakfast of toast and peanut butter, and a little water, I got dressed, and we headed to the start. With the temperature in the mid-40s at 8 AM, I found another reason to be glad for the 9 AM start. Once we arrived at the Watauga Community Center, I swapped my Youth Large t-shirt for an Adult Large, found a restroom, and then headed out to warm up. After a quick change of shoes from my New Balance 758s to my Zoot Ultra TT 2.0s, I headed to the start, a couple of blocks away.
Being a small race, and knowing it was hand-timed, I made a point to line up closer than normal to the starting line. After a few words from the race director, the gun fired, and we were off. As the mass of runners surged, a woman right in front of me, running with her dog, did a perfect Superman impersonation, as she face planted and then slid several feet. With a quick jump, I narrowly avoided going down too (I hope she’s okay). There was a nice little rise in the first quarter mile, which I hardly noticed due to surge of adrenaline, and the downhill that followed allowed me to settle into a nice pace, and begin passing as many people as possible. I came through mile one in 7:50, feeling pretty good.
For the second mile, the race veers off of the road, and onto a paved path around a small lake. As I moved from the road to the parking lot, I caught my left foot on some uneven pavement, and nearly did a face plant of my own. Fortunately I was able to catch myself, and barely broke stride. Mile 2 was almost entirely around the lake, and was mostly rolling. I was able to continue passing people, and avoid being passed. In fact, after the initial surge of the “sprint and die” crowd at the start, I was not passed. I finished mile 2 in 7:55, and was really starting to feel the effort.
With the start of mile 3, I headed back out on the road for the return trip to the community center, and the finish line. Within a couple of minutes I passed the last female that I would see out on the course. Unlike the xSIGHTment 5K Run, I would not get “chicked” in the Running Scared 5K. At this point I was really starting to feel the effects of the hard effort, and I can’t help but think about the downhill near the start that now becomes the uphill near the finish. To take my mind off of it, I began focusing on picking off the remaining runners on the road ahead of me. Before I knew it, I was approaching the 3 mile mark, which is usually where I start my finishing kick. However, the hill took so much out of me, that I just wanted to stop. I passed the mile 3 marker in 7:57, and did my best to imitate a kick to the finish. It took some loud cheering from Julie, and seeing how close I was to 24:30, to finally muster up any semblance of a kick, but I did it. The final .11 of a mile took 45 seconds, for a 6:37 pace—not that great. In the end I finished in 24:28—a new P.R. by 28 seconds!
Based on last year’s results, I knew that my time could be good enough for 2nd in my Age Group, and possibly even a spot in the top 10. Unfortunately with the growth of the race, there were nearly twice as many runners as in the previous year, and I ended up 4th in my Age Group, and 18th overall. On the bright side, I did finish ahead of the overall female winner—a first for me.
Here’s the Garmin data from the race: http://bit.ly/RunningScared5K-2009.