New Quarter Park 6k

Quick post to jot down details of this morning’s 6k in Williamsburg, Virginia. I’ll start by saying what great conditions for a race; temperatures in the mid 60s with just a 6mph ENE wind. Can’t remember the last time it was so cool….

The race was due to start at 9:15am, so after picking up my race t-shirt, bib and safety pins I set off on a couple of miles to loosen the legs and gently warm up. The left shin pain that had been bothering me all week was still around, but thankfully was not quite as severe as it has been. In any case, I jogged on the grass at the side of the road to help cushion each step.

Promptly at 9:15am, the race director started the race. I soon settled in to a nice pace in about 4th or 5th place, but I’d established myself firmly in 3rd by the time we reached the 1st mile turnaround point. Incidentally I covered the first mile in 5:40, slightly quicker than expected, but still feeling quite comfortable.

Just past the 1.5 mile mark we made a right turn into a field and onto a grassy track; the surface underfoot wasn’t great, but I still felt strong and drew level with the 2nd place guy James Bates. We hit the 2 mile mark pretty much side by side as one of the timers called out 11:41 – another 5:40 mile according to my Garmin.

At this point in the race the terrain changed again, this time to a hard packed gravel trail. Still feeling in control, I decided to surge in an attempt to establish a clear 2nd place position. Slowly but surely Jim’s footsteps grew quieter and quieter but I wasn’t taking anything for granted as I knew what a strong and tenacious finisher he is.

We rounded a picnic area at about the 2.75 mile and headed back on the same trail in the direction of the finish area. The 3 mile split was 17:05 I believe (5:41 mile) which I’d be well happy with in a 5k to be honest! Just past the 3 mile mark however, I took a slight wrong turn. Instead of sticking to the trail I mistakenly headed right on a mowed grass track, but luckily a couple of runners shouted over and corrected me before I lost too much time. I glanced back to see Jim not that far behind and from this point forward I went into survival mode.

I seemed to lose all rhythm and my form suddenly felt awkward but luckily there wasn’t too far left to run; one turn to the right followed by a quick left onto the road with the finish line in sight. I recovered my composure and finished strong to the line with the clock reading 21:34 and a new 6k PR by almost a full minute!! Granted, I don’t run too many 6k races, but a PR is a PR, right?

Below is the prediction from yesterday’s blog post, so as you can imagine I’m very happy with the performance.

I’m off now to enjoy my well-earned Samichlaus beer; a rare treat I save for any PR (Personal Record) race I run.

As you can imagine, the older I get, the less PRs I run, so it is indeed a rare treat! Let’s hope for another one at the Richmond Marathon on November 15th….

Official results and video of the start, first place male and female are available here.