Park to Park 5 Mile Race Report, or, a Return to Blogging

As you can see, my new job has left me not without words to blog, but without time to blog them! Fortunately, I believe that the period of the "mad rush" where I'm totally incapable of finding any spare time at all may be at an end. At least on some days. So, without further adieu, here is my race report (as I have been training, though not blogging!).

My wildest hope was to break 45 minutes on this run. My reasonable goal was simply to PR the distance, which I was confident I could do. (Previous PR was 51:26 in November at the Run Thru the Woods.)

The weather was what I'm coming to think of as perfect. Freaking cold while I'm standing around waiting for the start, but lovely for the run once I'm warmed up. Just over 50 degrees, overcast. I wore shorts, two l/s tech shirts, and my skullcap. I came to regret both the skullcap and the 2nd tech shirt, but hopefully will learn from my mistake in time for this coming weekend's Rodeo Run 10K.

The race started at Minute Maid Park downtown, which is fast becoming my favorite venue for race starts. I mean, who can argue with shelter from the wind and flushing toilets? Certainly not me!!

I seeded myself near the back, as usual, hoping to pick off rather than be picked off. I think I actually went a little too far towards the rear, as I found myself really weaving in that first mile. Looked down and saw a 9:30ish pace, and was feeling great, so I picked it up really early and started passing people.

For some reason my Garmin hasn't reset itself on the charger the previous night and I didn't notice until the first mile marker, when the person called out "7:30" as I ran by. WTF?? Looked down at the Garmin and saw an 8-something pace, but a lot of miles and a lot of time. Oh well, I'd just use it for pacing and hope some of the data was salvagable... figured at that point that the race's mile marker was off. Turned out that all of them were off, except perhaps the 4th, so I really relied on glancing down at the Garmin for my pacing. I set an on-the-run goal of any pace sub-9 because I was feeling so great, but in my head I was really pushing for closer to 8:30's.

Mile 1: 9:03

Mile 2: 8:47

Mile 3: 8:48

Mile 4: 8:31

Mile 5: 8:45

I felt like going out that strong came back to bite me a little in that last mile, but it was totally worth it. I ran a 44:14, 8:51 pace, and I am thrilled!! Absolutely thrilled! Already trying to figure out if I can hold that pace or close to it for the Rodeo Run 10K next weekend...