Race Report: Goose Creek 5K

The facts are these

Distance: 5 kilometers

Finishing time: 25'02" <-- Huge PR!!!!

Pre-race

Woke up two full hours before the race and gobbled down a small amount of oatmeal with honey and a little coffee. I didn't want a repeat of last week when I hit a major wall about halfway through my day. I had 18 miles to do today so energy management was going to be key. I swallowed down some Gu, my vitamins & meds, and some water, and took off. I ran five and a quarter miles from my house to the starting area, getting there wicked early. That gave me a chance to find a locker into which I could stow my gear, stretch, and take as many bathroom breaks as I needed. A couple onesies and a twosie later, I was ready to race. I was bib number 14. This was a small race.

Race day

I guess altogether there was around 200 people milling around the starting area. We waited for the bullhorn to start. My strategy was to take it easy, running comfortably hard, not all out. I kept reminding myself I still had 10 miles to run after this. Still, I was getting pretty pumped. This was my first race in a while. The bullhorn siren went off, and we were off.

In the first mile, my focus was on good foot turnover. I wanted to have a good, regular cadence. Again, nothing faster than comfortably hard, but I found myself passing people. That got me hooked. I became hooked on the opiate known as passing people. They called out my first mile split, and I nearly split my pants -- 8'16"! I was flying.

The second mile found me at war with myself. Should I keep stride and maintain this pace? Should I open it up and see how fast I can go? As I did this, I kept passing a few people. We went off-road and onto some gravel trails. I wanted to open wide, but I was also starting to tire, which worried me. My second mile split was 16'23". I was doing negative splits!

OK, fine, body. If you want to play that, let's play. I stopped worrying about it and just ran my race. The third mile was one of me picking someone ahead of me and trying to pass him or her. Finally, I got to the woman who'd later win the 30-35 division. I never took her. There was no Third Mile split caller, but my watch said 24'39". I was still doing negative splits.

I finished the race with a 25'02", destroying my previous PR. I also felt good. I was winded and tired, but I felt like I could recover. And I did.

Post race

We hung around the gymnasium and waited for the awards to get passed out. They did two-deep in the age groups, and when I turned my card in, I was the only dude in my division. I figured my chances of winning something were greater than usual so rather than running on home, I stuck around. I drank and gobbled fruit and waited. Eventually, they got around to it, and you could have knocked me over with a feather when they called out my name -- Runner Up, Mens 35-39! I got a medal!

After the awards were doled out, my mind quickly turned to getting home. Thankfully, I didn't take first place. That award -- a wooden plaque -- would have been a bitch to run with. But the medal slid snugly into my Nathan water belt. I geared up and took off. All I had in me was 10-minute miles heading out, and I tapered from there. By the eighth mile [actually mile 16 for the day], I was done. I hobbled home doing 11-12 minute miles. Still, I felt OK. I was hurting, sore, tired, and completely spent, but I still felt a million times better than I felt after last Saturday's run. I owe it to good eating and starting out slow. And staying slow.

Concluding Thoughts

All together, I ran 18 miles in 3:05'42", but that huge elephant was broken up into three bites. The 5.25 mile pre-race segment, I ran in 54'10". We already discussed the race, and so the 9.7 mile return trip took me 1:46'23". Please don't check my math. I'm very tired now. And ravenously hungry. And I've typed long enough.

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Thanks to Heather Daniel, whose race report style I'm borrowing.