Run for Independence 5k

Quick post to record details of this morning’s “Run for Independence 5k”. Going into the race I wasn’t expecting too much, mainly due to the Frederick Marathon I ran 6 days ago, but also because of the heat and humidity that I’m not quite used to at the moment.

The 2 mile warm up was fairly uneventful, but a good reminder of the course and how humid the race was likely to be. After a few fast strides I took my place on the start line and enjoyed catching up with a few friends I hadn’t seen for a while. At 9am sharp, we were off – a stampede of runners all battling for a good line into the first left turn. I held back a bit, found some space on the outside and concentrated on maintaining a good rhythm.

As the leaders broke away, I soon find myself clear in 6th place, ticking along nicely in my Newton trainers. Just before the mile (5:30) I managed to overtake regular racer Robert Schabron and move into 5th place. Robert is a fine racer and always finishes very close to me – today it looked like he was running better than ever. Up ahead, local superstar Ryan Carrol was way out in front followed fairly closely by John Lomogda (manager of the Norfolk Running Etc. store) and Tom Purcell (owner of Town Center Fitness). In 4th place, also running strongly, was rising star and good friend Billy Chorey.

I stayed in 5th through the 2 mile mark, but could still hear Robert right behind me. I distinctly remember one waterlogged spot where the sound of the splashes reinforced how close he was. My 2nd mile split was a 5:42 – not too shabby, but it was more and more of a struggle to maintain the quick cadence. Inevitably, with just about half a mile to go, Robert drew alongside me for a few seconds before striding ahead. His long stride was too much for me today and impressively he put 12 seconds on me in the last 800m! Nice work….

I managed to hold on for a quicker-than-expected 17:39 – 6th place overall and 1st in the 40-44 age group. Not a bad effort at all considering the marathon legs and heat/humidity.

I cooled down with Billy Chorey (ran the course again actually) and had fun chatting and catching up on his training and racing stories. Billy ran a solid race and looked very strong in his 17:12 finish. I’m expecting Billy to get stronger and faster as the summer racing season progresses…..

One last comment: I submitted my time from today’s race to the Tweet 5k web site – a great idea for an online event to benefit Athletes for a Cure – a program of the Prostate Cancer Foundation. If you have any spare cash, please think about making a donation. More details on the Foundation can be found here.

Quick fact before I publish this post:

1 in 6 American men will develop prostate cancer! – quite an eye-opener, and a great reason to support the cause.