…or…
…or…
As I mentioned in my last post, I finally did my first post knee surgery race—the xSIGHTment Run 5K, put on by the Colleyville Lions Club. I really didn’t know what to expect with this race, and I was even less sure what my goals should be. In fact, as Julie and I were driving to the race, I was still working them out.
I knew that my training had been solid over the last two months, with 70 miles in April, and 116 in May (okay, perhaps I’m ramping back up a little too quickly), but I had put in little time doing speed work. Now don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t running everything slow (slow being relative, of course), but I certainly hadn’t had any specific speed sessions—just some runs that were faster than others.
Searching my mental training log, I looked for proof that I could run a time close to my PR (25:12). I certainly had runs that came close, including one particular run done in brutal conditions. That was it—if I could run 2 sub 8:00 miles, back-to-back in the middle of the afternoon, in hot, humid weather, plus a 9:00 minute mile, then surely I could run something within 30-60 seconds of my 5K PR in the morning, with relatively cool, dry weather. I now had my plan—8:20/mile, speeding up if I felt good, otherwise just holding on.
Finally, we arrived at the race, and immediately got to work getting ready—put our bibs on, sipped some Gatorade, found the timing chip table, and started our warm up. After 10-15 minutes of easy running, plus some strides, we made our way towards the starting line. We deliberately stayed well away from the front, but made sure to line up in front of any strollers or young children. Within a few minutes, the gun went off and we were on our way.
I was immediately boxed in, and had to do a little maneuvering to find some open space. Once I was in the open, I proceeded to go at a pace a little faster than planned. After settling in somewhere between 8:10-8:20 pace, I focused on running with a nice, relaxed form, as the course made its way up the first of 4 hills.
Mile 1 ended on the backside of the first hill, right before the start of hill number two. I hit the marker at 8:16—right about where I wanted to be. I passed tons of people in the first mile, and was passed by just a few folks. Feeling pretty good, I brought the pace down a bit, and found some targets up the road to reel in.
Through the turnaround, just past the halfway mark of mile 2, I still felt strong, continued passing people, and started to pass some of the folks who had passed me. Things were going pretty good, and I headed towards hills 3 and 4. Somewhere between the final two hills, I hit the two mile mark, going through in 8:08—not bad, and still feeling pretty good.
With just over a mile left, I began focusing on holding onto my form, running relaxed but hard up the hills, and letting gravity pull me back down. At this point, the pack had thinned out considerably, but I was still reeling in runner after runner, including everyone that had passed me at the beginning of the race. What a great feeling! With about .4 of a mile left, I made the final turn, and headed down the home stretch.
At this point, I was averaging a low 7 min/mile pace, and was just trying to hold on. I passed a couple more people, and could finally see the finish line, along with a couple of more folks that looked to be catchable. I passed the first, a very fit looking teenage girl who was not looking so great at that moment. A funny thing happened when I passed her though—she came to life. Within a couple of seconds of passing her, I sensed a presence off my right shoulder, and an extra shadow confirmed that someone was there—the girl I’d just passed. She stayed put for a few more seconds, and I tried to lift my pace. She stayed put, but only for another second or two, before picking the pace up another notch. She made her move to pass. As she opened up her stride in front of me, I knew that catching her would be a tough task, but I tried to find an extra gear and go with her. On this day, I didn’t have the speed to match her finishing kick, and she cruised to the finish line a second ahead of me.
I’d been “chicked.” Or had I? Sure, she passed me right before the finish line, but I hadn’t seen her the entire race. It wasn’t until the very end, right before I passed her, that I saw her for the very first time. I suspected that while she would have a faster gun time, that I’d end up with a faster chip time. Unfortunately, I didn’t catch her bib # before she left the finishing corral.
Looking at my time, I quickly forgot about getting “chicked”—I had a new PR! 24:56! My first sub 25:00 5K. I couldn’t believe that I did it. I really didn’t set out to attempt a PR. I just ran my plan, and felt good enough to keep pushing the pace all the way to the end.
Knowing that Julie would be coming in soon, I made my way back out on the course a bit, and cheered her home. She had a great race herself, finishing with her 2nd fastest 5K time!
After some pancakes, we made our way over to look at the preliminary results. What do you know, we both placed 5th in our Age Group. Not bad for a race that attracts a fast crowd! I also noticed one woman with a gun time that was just a second faster than me, and a chip time 9 seconds slower than me—that had to be her! As it turns out, she won the 15-19 AG, and she did out kick me at the end. I can handle that.
Later in the weekend, as race photos became available, I was able to confirm that this was in fact the girl. I’ve got a great series of photos from the end of the race, which depict me getting “chicked.” Wouldn’t you like to see them?
Here are my splits (according to Garmin):
Look for pictures in a future post.