The Union County Rotary Club 5k in Marysville was a perfect course for a new PR on Saturday. The weather was perfect, the course was a mix of paved roads, bike paths and dirt trails. Though there were only about 50 competitors, I knew that I could push myself to a new best.
The race started and a local favorite took off like lightning. He had plenty of support as he charged out of the gates at a seemingly ridiculous pace. I thought to myself, "Well, if this guy can hold that pace then good for him, but I'm running my race." The first mile has some twists and turns and I kept the leader in sight but didn't worry much about the spread between us. When the mile came, we were should to shoulder at 4:55. My target was 4:55-5:05, so I was happy and I felt pretty fresh. He, on the other hand, began to sputter but did his best to hang with me for another half mile. He turned out to be somewhat of a distraction as I took the lead by more than 15 seconds at the 2 mile mark. My attention spent on distancing myself from him proved wasteful, as his pace was so slow he slowed me down, but it may have been a blessing in disguise. The pace dropped to a 5:25 for the second mile. Putting the tired runner and the slower second mile behind me, I still felt fresh because I didn't blow his doors off at the mile mark, I still felt strong, steady and focused. I told myself that if I wasn't in pain then I would be angry with myself at the finish, so I tore through the third mile squeezing all I had out of my legs, lungs and mind. I pushed the pace as hard as possible through the last mile crossing the line at 15:49, running the last mile in 4:55, same as the first. I was pleased.
Lisa also ran her fastest 5k at 18:18, she has little competition and finished 3rd overall, who knows, one more mile and she might have caught that second guy as he seemed to fall off more and more and the race pushed on.
Posted on
Sat, September 12, 2009
by Clayton Burnett