Saturday, June 22nd, 2013

8 miles. Harwich 5k.
Decided to run a race I haven't done in years. Missed the local scene and the people in it. Unfortunately, it came on a day that followed a 10 hour wedding day where I was on my feet the whole time, preceded by a week of poor sleep. I only mention this to help explain to myself why my heart rate went up and I got tired after mile 2 in this one (or am I just denying my age?)
Got there early, warmed up and got to the start with somewhere around 700 others.
No über-fast looking dudes at the start, but I wasn't taking that for granted a bit.
Gun went off and I got out fairly clean. 3 guys went out in front, 2 of which were young and they came back by 600 meters. The third guy built a solid 30 foot lead by the 800 mark and it just got longer as we approached the mile, which I hit in 5:05. It's a fast first mile, so I should have been warned by a relatively slow time that I shouldn't go for anything especially quick time-wise today.
I finally started to catch the guy @ 1.5 and got by him with a good move on the flat part of a long road. Boomeranged around a turn and put a little more distance on him and by the time I hit mile 2 in 5:04, I had a good 100 meter lead.
I was happy with the 2 mile split, but I knew already that I was tired as hell, as even the little surges I'd put in in taking the lead and keeping it had caused my breathing to become shorter. My legs never felt good this day, straight from the warmup, they were just cooked, but I kept it up and at 2.5 I was on 5:18 pace for the mile and realized I had to coast for a bit if I didn't want to be jogging into the finish. I wasn't sure how far back 2nd was at this point, so I really didn't want to give someone 1/2 my age a chance for a kick at the end, and I thought it best to try to get my breathing right. This worked in one sense, but it ultimately led to me having a less than great last mile and I crossed the line in 16:08 for the win.
Not the best race, but not a disaster. Just happy to get out for a local race again, but unless this week goes perfectly, I may as well scratch the Chatham 10k. Of course, I say that now...