This blog is all about running. Sort of.
The Great Race
Friday was Race Day.
After months of training I was finally going to get the chance to test my mettle in true competition. My sister and personal running Guru had selected the Crystal City 5K and agreed to run it with me. It was a good choice for me because the race starts at 6:30pm and I prefer running later in the day. First thing in the morning has never worked for me. The only thing I like to do first thing in the morning is drink coffee. If someone else makes it.
My sister and I met up at the event an hour early to sign up and familiarize ourselves with the surroundings. It was a nice flat course and the weather was absolutely perfect. About 70 degrees and overcast, so no sun would be bearing down on us during the run. It threatened to rain the whole time but never did.
All manner of runners were there to sign up. Young and old, thin and fat, and whole lot of regular Joes like me. At one point my sister asked “why is that guy wearing a dress?” I looked over and saw an older guy who looked like he was in his 70s in a black cocktail dress. Then we noticed several other (mostly female) runners also wearing black dresses. Eventually it was announced that the fastest runner in a black dress won $100. I didn’t think the old guy had much of a chance but I admired his chutzpah. In any case I secretly vowed not to get passed by anyone wearing a dress …
As the hour approached Cynthia and I worked on our strategy. She knew I was aiming for a sub-30:00 race so she suggested we try and average 9:35-minute miles. Our plan was to run the first mile at 9:45 or so and then pick it up for the last two. Unlike me, she’s been running for decades and can set her pace pretty accurately. I told her that as I had no experience racing or running that fast for that long that her plan sounded fine with me.
As people started to gather at the starting line we tried to figure out where in the crowd we should start. I thought it would be best to start near the back so that we would get passed less and pass more, but we ended up in the middle as more and more people filed in behind us. At this point, just before the race smack dab in the middle of a huge crowd of runners, I realized I had to pee. Badly. Apparently this is very common amongst runners, as the pre-race nerves cause one to have to go … or something. Of course that knowledge didn’t help me much but given the situation there wasn’t much I could do but wait for the starting gun and run as fast I could so I could finish the race and find a bathroom.
Well, that or wet myself but I wasn’t quite prepared to do that yet.
Mercifully the gun finally sounded. The crowd inched its way to the starting line where we heard race organizers yelling, “step on the blue mat or your timing chip won’t activate!” Once the mat was properly stepped on the pace of the crowd picked up and we were off and running. Immediately it became clear that we had positioned ourselves too far up in the crowd, as we were getting passed right and left. I looked at my Garmin, which I had set to pace us at 9:30 miles, and it said we were running faster than that, but we were still apparently the slow ones in the crowd at this point. My sister said not to worry about it and just keep our pace so that’s what we did.
And it was a fast pace for me. I definitely felt ok thanks to race-day adrenaline, and decided to try and milk that for as long as I could and then hang on for dear life once it wore off. Despite running as fast as we were we continued to get passed for most of the first mile. At one point I looked over and saw a guy pushing his little kid in a running stroller running on past me. “We’re getting passed by a sleeping three-year-old!” I told my sister. She told me not to worry about it and maintain our pace. It was also around this time that we saw the leaders, already having reached the point in the race where it doubles back, passing us going the opposite direction. I assumed that meant the course was going to double back at any moment. Turns out it was a ways down, and the leaders were running really fast.
We hit the first mile at 9:41. Pretty much right on schedule. My sister asked me if I was doing ok and so far I was, so we started to run a little faster. Somewhere during the second mile people stopped passing us. And then we started passing people. I started using the idea of passing the next person in front of me as motivation and by the end of the second mile we were passing people pretty regularly.
But by the end of the second mile I was starting to wear down. My sister and I had been chatting away but now I had to stop talking. Fortunately Cynthia kept talking for the both of us. As the third mile began we passed a water stop. There was one early on but I had ignored it. This time I went for a cup, not so much because I was thirsty, but it was something to do that could distract me from how much harder I was breathing and how sore my legs were getting. I grabbed a cup from a nice volunteer, took an awkward swig and half the cup spilled onto my shirt. Which was fine. It was cold and cooling me off.
The third mile was pretty rough. I had basically just run a two-mile tempo run and was trying to extend it another mile, and my body was not pleased with this plan. Cynthia again asked me if I was ok, probably because my breathing had become more labored, and I managed to gasp that I could hold the pace for one more mile. Well, I was pretty sure I could. At two-and-a half miles it got real tough. Cynthia started to pull away from me and I could feel myself slowing down. I was pretty much all I could do to stay about ten steps behind her. She was yelling back to me … I’m pretty sure she was saying something to the effect of “keep it going we’re almost there” or something but I was focusing so hard on not collapsing that I couldn’t exactly make out what she said. I did hear her when she said “only three blocks to go!”
We rounded a corner and I saw the finish line. Finally. Mercifully. Not 50 yards away. I said something to my sister about finishing the race and burst into an all out sprint. From behind me I heard her exclaim, “where did that come from?” I was dead tired but I didn’t care. I had to get to the finish line and stop the agony. I managed to keep sprinting until I got to the big blue mat and stomped on it with as much authority as I could muster. Then I staggered off to catch my breath.
I looked at my watch. 28:50. We didn’t just break 30 minutes. We broke 29.
Afterwards my sister told me that if I had enough left in the tank to sprint to the finish like that I could probably have run the whole course a little faster. I’m not so sure.
Anyway, that night I checked the posted results. My official time was 28:46, or 9:17 -minute miles. I finished 233rd out of 462 and 24th out of 31 in my age division. I consider that a decent first outing.
The aliens have now been put on notice.
After months of training I was finally going to get the chance to test my mettle in true competition. My sister and personal running Guru had selected the Crystal City 5K and agreed to run it with me. It was a good choice for me because the race starts at 6:30pm and I prefer running later in the day. First thing in the morning has never worked for me. The only thing I like to do first thing in the morning is drink coffee. If someone else makes it.
My sister and I met up at the event an hour early to sign up and familiarize ourselves with the surroundings. It was a nice flat course and the weather was absolutely perfect. About 70 degrees and overcast, so no sun would be bearing down on us during the run. It threatened to rain the whole time but never did.
All manner of runners were there to sign up. Young and old, thin and fat, and whole lot of regular Joes like me. At one point my sister asked “why is that guy wearing a dress?” I looked over and saw an older guy who looked like he was in his 70s in a black cocktail dress. Then we noticed several other (mostly female) runners also wearing black dresses. Eventually it was announced that the fastest runner in a black dress won $100. I didn’t think the old guy had much of a chance but I admired his chutzpah. In any case I secretly vowed not to get passed by anyone wearing a dress …
As the hour approached Cynthia and I worked on our strategy. She knew I was aiming for a sub-30:00 race so she suggested we try and average 9:35-minute miles. Our plan was to run the first mile at 9:45 or so and then pick it up for the last two. Unlike me, she’s been running for decades and can set her pace pretty accurately. I told her that as I had no experience racing or running that fast for that long that her plan sounded fine with me.
As people started to gather at the starting line we tried to figure out where in the crowd we should start. I thought it would be best to start near the back so that we would get passed less and pass more, but we ended up in the middle as more and more people filed in behind us. At this point, just before the race smack dab in the middle of a huge crowd of runners, I realized I had to pee. Badly. Apparently this is very common amongst runners, as the pre-race nerves cause one to have to go … or something. Of course that knowledge didn’t help me much but given the situation there wasn’t much I could do but wait for the starting gun and run as fast I could so I could finish the race and find a bathroom.
Well, that or wet myself but I wasn’t quite prepared to do that yet.
Mercifully the gun finally sounded. The crowd inched its way to the starting line where we heard race organizers yelling, “step on the blue mat or your timing chip won’t activate!” Once the mat was properly stepped on the pace of the crowd picked up and we were off and running. Immediately it became clear that we had positioned ourselves too far up in the crowd, as we were getting passed right and left. I looked at my Garmin, which I had set to pace us at 9:30 miles, and it said we were running faster than that, but we were still apparently the slow ones in the crowd at this point. My sister said not to worry about it and just keep our pace so that’s what we did.
And it was a fast pace for me. I definitely felt ok thanks to race-day adrenaline, and decided to try and milk that for as long as I could and then hang on for dear life once it wore off. Despite running as fast as we were we continued to get passed for most of the first mile. At one point I looked over and saw a guy pushing his little kid in a running stroller running on past me. “We’re getting passed by a sleeping three-year-old!” I told my sister. She told me not to worry about it and maintain our pace. It was also around this time that we saw the leaders, already having reached the point in the race where it doubles back, passing us going the opposite direction. I assumed that meant the course was going to double back at any moment. Turns out it was a ways down, and the leaders were running really fast.
We hit the first mile at 9:41. Pretty much right on schedule. My sister asked me if I was doing ok and so far I was, so we started to run a little faster. Somewhere during the second mile people stopped passing us. And then we started passing people. I started using the idea of passing the next person in front of me as motivation and by the end of the second mile we were passing people pretty regularly.
But by the end of the second mile I was starting to wear down. My sister and I had been chatting away but now I had to stop talking. Fortunately Cynthia kept talking for the both of us. As the third mile began we passed a water stop. There was one early on but I had ignored it. This time I went for a cup, not so much because I was thirsty, but it was something to do that could distract me from how much harder I was breathing and how sore my legs were getting. I grabbed a cup from a nice volunteer, took an awkward swig and half the cup spilled onto my shirt. Which was fine. It was cold and cooling me off.
The third mile was pretty rough. I had basically just run a two-mile tempo run and was trying to extend it another mile, and my body was not pleased with this plan. Cynthia again asked me if I was ok, probably because my breathing had become more labored, and I managed to gasp that I could hold the pace for one more mile. Well, I was pretty sure I could. At two-and-a half miles it got real tough. Cynthia started to pull away from me and I could feel myself slowing down. I was pretty much all I could do to stay about ten steps behind her. She was yelling back to me … I’m pretty sure she was saying something to the effect of “keep it going we’re almost there” or something but I was focusing so hard on not collapsing that I couldn’t exactly make out what she said. I did hear her when she said “only three blocks to go!”
We rounded a corner and I saw the finish line. Finally. Mercifully. Not 50 yards away. I said something to my sister about finishing the race and burst into an all out sprint. From behind me I heard her exclaim, “where did that come from?” I was dead tired but I didn’t care. I had to get to the finish line and stop the agony. I managed to keep sprinting until I got to the big blue mat and stomped on it with as much authority as I could muster. Then I staggered off to catch my breath.
I looked at my watch. 28:50. We didn’t just break 30 minutes. We broke 29.
Afterwards my sister told me that if I had enough left in the tank to sprint to the finish like that I could probably have run the whole course a little faster. I’m not so sure.
Anyway, that night I checked the posted results. My official time was 28:46, or 9:17 -minute miles. I finished 233rd out of 462 and 24th out of 31 in my age division. I consider that a decent first outing.
The aliens have now been put on notice.
Total Comments 6
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Congratulations-good job, Henry.
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Nice effort.
What's next? |
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Congrats Henry.
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Thanks guys. I think my next goal will be to average sub-9:00 miles. That would mean I'd have to beat about 27:50. But that's a ways away.
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Not that you asked for advice
 , but it looks like your every day run pace is too close to your race pace. You would improve your aerobic strength and endurance by going slower but farther. Most of your runs should be at a pace where you could have a conversation. By running easier you can run more, and that is the single biggest thing that will improve your running. |
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Ideally that would be ... ideal
 but I don't have the time to increase my distance much. I am going to try and mix in more 4-milers (which I run at about 11:00/mile), but that's about it. Other than that I'm just going to have to run faster. |
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