Cox Falcon 5k Part 2

The Cox Falcon 5k this morning was my 11th race in the first 9 weeks of 2008, and probably the last one before the Shamrock Marathon in 2 weeks time. I typically try to race a 5k in the 3 or 4 weeks leading up to a marathon to use the result as an indicator of my current level of fitness, and figured this would be as good an opportunity as any to log a 5k time.

I arrived at Cox High School about an hour before the race, paid my entry fee and went off on a 2 mile warm up. Despite the slightly warmer temperatures, it was still fairly chilly and the wind seemed to be picking up all the time – not perfect conditions, but at least it was drier than last week’s cross country race.

The race director had to wait for the bike leader to show up before starting the race, but at 8:00am sharp we were off and running. I pressed start on my Garmin GPS, but something was messed up after recording my warm up and I had to fumble to reset and start the timer. As we raced around the first bend, however, the GPS still wasn’t recording and I gave up trying and settled in to run the race.

The first half mile was quick. Many of the high school runners went off exceptionally fast, and I found myself in about 10 or 12th position – breathing hard and struggling to stay with them. I decided to run my own race and think about how I was feeling, rather than stay with the leading pack, and by the mile mark had moved up into 8th position.

The second mile took us through a nice neighborhood and included a small loop where you could see the runners in front heading back. It also gave an idea of how close the runners behind were. At the turn, I was clear in 8th and gaining rapidly on a few of the runners ahead, and with a slight surge I moved into 6th place. By the two mile mark I drew level with the 1st place female (5th overall), but had my sights set on the two runners ahead – I wanted to pass them both and move into 3rd place overall.

It took about a quarter of a mile to catch them, and as I came up on their outside, used all my momentum to surge and open up as big a gap as I could manage. I expected a response but their footsteps went quiet – all I had to do was maintain my speed and keep the cadence ticking along to the finish.

Without a watch or GPS, I had no idea what speed I was running, but it felt fast – surely under 18 minute 5k pace. The race finishes on the Cox High School track and as I neared the school I could hear the announcer calling the name of the first place guy who was about to hit the track with 250m to go. I started to fade as the early speed began to take it’s toll, and almost looked back to see how close my nearest rivals were, but figured this would be a bad idea and kicked in towards the track and the last 300m.

Round the final bend, I caught a glimpse of the runners behind and realizing they were about 7 or 8 seconds back, was able to relax and enjoy the home straight to the finish line. The clock ticked away the seconds and I remember seeing 17:30 something, but wasn’t sure of the exact time until the results were announced inside the school about an hour later.

Official finish time – 17:35
Finish place – 3rd overall
Average speed – 5:40/mile

If you read my race prediction from earlier this morning you’ll notice I met both my goals – I did manage to break 18 minutes and didn’t pick up and injury. Good news! The 17:35 is also my fastest 5k since October 2006, so naturally I’m very happy with how my fitness level is progressing. Maybe I’ll be able to break 17:20 and set a new lifetime PR some time this year.

Tomorrow is a 20 miler in preparation for the marathon, and to be honest I’ll be glad when it’s done and out of the way. The long runs are the one thing I’d change about my Shamrock build up, but at this stage of the game it’s too late to do anything about it. Let’s see what happens in the morning before I predict how I’ll do in my 21st marathon….

Photo source: TriDuo.com Sports Photography