Jogged about a mile to my planned start, which was along a busy road, but with sidewalks (and no business traffic this early and the pandemic). A benefit of the starting point was a side road right there that paralleled a wooded area, so I was able to duck into the woods, as planned, for a final, pre-race pee.
I started out on a sidewalk for about ¼ mile. The rest would be streets. One of my biggest fears was there would be someone walking a dog, I’d have to veer off into the grass and I’d stumble and fall.
^^^Great minds think alike.
FBG Virtual 5K
I was preparing to not be able to run today, but fueled (banana, hard boiled egg, and oatmeal) like I would anyway. If we got enough snow melt I wanted to do this today for a variety of reasons. My decision didn't really settle in until 11-something, but as the sun was finally breaking through the clouds it was becoming evident that at least the streets would be cleared of snow by early afternoon. So I proceeded with my pre race routine - shower and a shave, some dry honey nut cherrios and an apple, grabbed everything I needed and went for a drive to scout out the course.
I specifically chose a route that started right by a heavily wooded park area (
@tri-man 47>hi) for one last final pre-race pee. I also chose to do the first 1/4 mile on sidewalk with a gentle decline, but would be doing the rest on a shoulder. I wanted a couple of minutes to find my pacing, but I didn't want to deal with too much of the potential hazards that come with trying to run fast on a sidewalk (
@Juxtatarot>hi). I went with a tank, shorts, compression socks, and gloves. It was mid 40's and mostly sunny with a crisp west wind - so I chose a headband that kinda covered my ears, but with some room to breathe so I didn't get too hot. I dumped a throwaway long sleeve shirt 2 minutes before the gun, popped in the cherry dum-dum, and I was off.
The point-to-point route I chose was intentionally (almost) straight as an arrow going east, as one of the reasons I wanted today was a west wind. That portion on the sidewalk dropped about 40' and as it neared to the end I peaked at my watch and saw 5:04. Beautiful! I wanted to start off hot, just not any number that started with a 4. I made my way to the street knowing I would lose some time as the route flattened out and I figured out how to sustain the stride with new obstacles ahead. The next half mile was pancake flat and the one-way road was two lane, so any cars coming my way had a lane to move over into but I still needed to navigate a problem I knew I'd run into through my scouting - standing water. The snow may have melted, but it was still pooled up on the side of the road. And while this particular road has room on the shoulder - it's a hard shoulder so there's no veering off it. You're either two feet on the shoulder or jump up into the grass., so I needed to keep my head on a swivel looking ahead when I got to these pools to see what i needed to do to best avoid them as much as possible. Because this is where another obstacle appeared - a roundabout (
@ChiefD>hi). So like I said, a lot going on here, but whenever I could peak at my watch I did and kept seeing 5:1X so I was in a good spot. I get through the roundabout onto a less traveled road and look down - 0.86 mi 5:18. FANTASTIC! I wanted mile 1 to clip off around 5:20, so getting to that point knowing I would was a big confidence boost.
Mile 1 - 5:20 (HR not accurate)
But if I lost some time in this race it was here. One of the others draws to the course (other than the wind) was some pretty good down hill at the start of this mile then again towards the end of it, kinda like how juxt plotted out his map to have decline mile 2. But unlike tri-man, I intentionally picked this route because of a little incline in between. I did this because of what Dr. Z said here.
I feel like 2nd mile is always key for me in a 5K – it’s so easy to lose your focus and unintentionally let your time slip.
I wanted that incline to grab my attention, to prevent me from losing focus. Then as it flattened out I'd recalibrate and see what I gotta do, so I peaked at my watch again - 1.39 mi @ 5:39?!?! WTF did I do!!! My internal monologue at the time thought maybe I was struggling, but with hind sight despite laying out the course to prevent it I took it too easy on the first quarter mile decline. So my margin of error for sub 17 was now gone and I needed to HTFU. I made some of the time back up over the rest of this mile and made it through the one remaining risky intersection without incident.
Mile 2 - 5:29 (HR 163)
Alright, its go time. Sub 17 is going to be a chore, but it can be done. Mile 3 drops about 60 more feet in the first half mile, but knowing what lies beyond I knew I needed to attack. But I also made a decision at that time not to look at my watch again. I didn't want that influencing any decisions - the only decisions from this moment forward were to #### some #### up. I felt like a borderline out of control elephant careening down that hill, so I knew there wasn't much left in my legs. As it flattened out I found a spot to ditch my gloves. I had been warm for some time, but I wanted to save that refreshing relief right before I began the last half mile - which was intentionally 60' uphill. If I'm doing a 150' net decline 5K then I'm punishing myself with an incline finish. I made the comment the other day that I felt I didn't give an A effort on the March 10K and I was not going to repeat that again. No matter how bad this hurt I was going to stay focused, sustain whatever I had left, and embrace the suck. I tipped over a 170 HR at mile 2.75 and it didn't go below that number again. I know I've only been watch running for 2 1/2 months but I've never done that. I was light headed, wanted to vomit, and had trouble keeping my vision. It doesn't matter - #### some #### up. I felt the buzz of mile 3 but I refused to look down. Go faster, you #####. The traffic light ahead that mapped out to exactly 3.1 miles that I had a visual on for a mile was finally within reach, but it just felt like I could not get there. I really don't remember any of this - I just remember thinking everything hurts and I want to die. But I finally got there, looked down, saw 3.11, hit stop, took 2 steps to the left, and just fell down on the ground.
Mile 3 - 5:36 (HR 167)
Mile 0.1 - 5:37 pace (HR 172)
Unofficial official time - 16:59
I did it. I ####### did it. To the mother ####### number. Now, where's my beer.
