Just another 5 on the 4th

OK. My heart really wasn't in this one. After so many awesome races recently, this one just kind of came up on the calendar. Like an item on the "To Do" list. It was hard to work up too much excitement. No loop meetups; Just a local race by my house. The tenth time I have done this one.

To do a 5K without dedication to a goal and a commitment to pain is a recipe for a sub-par effort. Sure, I would have liked to run a PR and go sub-20. But I knew my legs were pretty tired after the last few weeks, and I hadn't done any speed work in 5 weeks, except for two other 5K races. And the course had some rolling hills. Yeah, I had my excuses lined up.

Anyway, it was fun to see many of my local runner friends. I lined up behind the usual assortment of 5th graders in the front row, and got off to a nice start in front of at least most of the huge crowd of holiday runners. I didn't bolt out too fast like the last few races. First look at G had me right at goal pace of 6:30. Which showed me that I didn't have the proper adrenaline flowing.

I got into the racing groove and was having fun. First mile was 6:40. But it was mainly up a small hill, so I entertained thoughts of negative spitting. Second mile was rolling, and the little hills were tough on me. I just ran the best I could and started competing with the folks around me. One guy hung with me most of the way, and we helped each other keep up a tough pace. But I was slowing. 2nd mile 6:45.

So I was just hanging on, running on autopilot. Sure I was working hard - as hard as I thought I could go. But I didn't have that extra push needed to REALLY suffer. The third mile was mostly downhill on this out and back course. I could only manage a 6:42, although I was passing people the whole race. Finished up with .13 at 5:53 pace for a 20:52. Happy to break 21, but a far cry from my 20:06 of last month. Still, I managed 6th in my AG in a big tough field.

Here I am nearing mile 3. DW had to use my phone for a camera, and took one shot. And still caught me flying!



These guys ended up with 1 just in front of me and 1 behind me. Nice.
 
Boy, the whole tone of this blog is whiny - sorry about that. Even blah races are still a fun way to start the day. 54th 5K in the books! Going out to a party tonight with food, drinks and fireworks, so I can't complain.
On to marathon training!