Even though this is a 5 mile race, with the heat and humidity, I expected my pace would be somewhere between 10k and HM. Marc suggested going out at a 7:45 pace (10k pace) and capping the HR at 165 for the first half. I seeded myself too far back at the start and wasted some energy working my way through the crowd, but was mostly going by feel at this point. The heat hadn't started to affect me yet and the first mile clicked off at 7:44 and felt manageable. I thought I could hold on and make this work....I continued to run by feel and when the second mile clicked off and I looked at the time, I realized the heat was starting to get to me as my pace had already started slipping!

During the first two miles, there was a girl who kept pulling away and then dropping back to me, but I could never seem to get in front of her. Sometime after the second mile, I finally did pass her and saw a friend of mine up the road. I focused on slowly working my way up toward him.....right about mile three, I caught him and said, "Stay with me!" He did....and then he pulled away and I held "steady" and reeled him back in; he did this one more time, and then he fell off my pace and I was back to running solo again until I eventually saw another friend in front of me. I worked on reeling her in and she eventually took a walk break and I passed her.....and then she started running again and passed me quickly....and then walked and I passed her again, waiting and listening for her to pass me again.....she didn't.

Very few people passed me through four miles in the race, even though I was positive splitting every mile (ugh!). Clearly, the heat was getting to others as badly as it was getting to me. Between 4 and 4.5, a guy in a yellow shirt passed me looking really strong, and then a friend of mine (diesel engine....I knew she was coming!!) passed me and said, "This race may have been a bad idea" and I replied, 'Yes, definitely a bad idea!!!", and then this lady passed me and we exchanged a couple words before she told me that I'd been her pace rabbit all the way to this point -- glad I could help, bummed that I blew up and couldn't hold on any longer!

By the end, all I wanted to do was keep my pace under 9 min/mile, but I couldn't quite make it happen. I couldn't believe how hot it was and how much sweat was pouring out....and all I could think was, "I never want to run outside in Houston's summer again!!" And now that I'm done with this race, I'm going back to treadmill running exclusively....until it stops being so stupidly hot! But also, I want to go back and run sub-40 because I know I should be able to....so I'll probably sign up for this same torture again next year! I'm a glutton for punishment like that ;)

In the end, this was at my current HM PR pace, but felt like a 5k effort! Based on my VDOT (from my last 5k), this was actually marathon pace....and with the conditions, I barely hung on for five miles! :P


Maybe run with a bottle (maybe one that's been frozen or has ice in it??), probably should have gone out more conservatively since I really figured this would be closer to HM pace than 10k pace

Grabbed a couple bottles of water, stuck some ice in my top, laid down and made a sweat angel, and then went back out to cheer people on as they were finishing....it's one of the few times that I've been completely soaked with sweat and never got chilled later -- just too stinking hot and humid!!!



Heat and humidity first and foremost, but also doing a long run the day before, long ride two days before, and generally treating this race as a training day



Despite the heat, the RD puts on a really good race (now if only they could air condition the city!). Good communication, tons of volunteers, everything on time, food and water (and "beer") available at the finish, and times posted almost immediately