Thought for the Day

Saturday, February 8, 2003

Chinese New Year 5K

Well, I did manage to get up in time to run the Chinese New Year 5K this morning. That's not really impressive since it started at 9.
I was able to do something that I've known for a long time would help me improve my 5K time, but I've been failing to do. I was able to get there in time to run over the course as a warm up. It's not that the course was complicated or anything. It was just a big, flat, square lap on some streets west of downtown Phoenix.
Last night after work, I got the distinct smell of mud, which means it's raining somewhere in the area in Phoenix, but there were just a few scattered clouds. The clouds were thicker this morning, and it sprinkled while I was running my warmup lap. I hit the porta-john with about 10 minutes to spare, and was all set to go when the race started.
It was a crouded start, and I was a little boxed in at first, but it loosened up within a half mile, and I was able to run at my own pace. I hit one mile in 6:22.
I was feeling good, and I thought I probably wasn't totally out of the running for race junk, but I lost ground to the runners around me in the second mile. 7:11. I think maybe the mark for the second mile was misplaced, but I'm sure I could have done better.
I ran better in the last mile, I passed a couple of people, but I also got passed, by about four men who looked like they might be in my division. My mile split was 6:35.
I found myself in a battle at the finish. I was catching up with one guy who had passed me a minute before, so I poured it on. At the same time I heard another runner gaining on me, which put more pressure on. In the end, we finished in a bunch, but in the same order, me in the middle.
Final time was 20:39.
A new over 40 PR for this distance!
One of my objectives for this year is to get under 20 minutes in the 5K. I'm pretty sure now that if I get my weekly mileage back up above 40 and do one track workout a week, I can easily find the 40 seconds I need.

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