Chilly chili 5k - Run5k

I was glad to see the wind calm and the weather was actually pretty good for this time of year. Once we got to Caz, however, snow started to come down, though thankfully it wasn't building up on the roads. Wind picked up before the start, but died down just before we started the race. It was 18 degrees and wind was 10-11 mph.

The course had two hills, the first one was actually pretty brutal, was .8 miles long, and my paced dropped :54 seconds per mile over the climb. I have never done this course before, so wasn't sure what to expect. For the first 3-4 minutes, I was solidly under 6:00/mile, and felt really really good. At the time, I knew I wouldn't hold that pace for 3.1 miles, but also knew it wouldn't drop off by much over the next 15 minutes. Once I saw the first hill, the thoughts of 18:xx were immediately put to bed.

I was able to get my pace to 6:15 or so after cresting the hill, and settled right back into that range until hitting the second hill, which was nothing like the first.

The second hill was only 0.25 miles long, but still forced my pace down to 6:51/mile. The top of this hill basically marked the 2 mile point, and I was able to settle into a 6:0x pace the rest of the way as we finally had some flat ground ahead of us.

At this point, it has "just hang on" mode, and knew the finish was close. This is where I look for motivators or "carrots" to get the last few seconds out, like sub 20, or sub 19:30. With the finish line in sight, I knew I was between 19:30-19:40, so it made it hard to push. I hit the line at 19:38, a PR by 20 seconds over my last 5k. I think I had another 3-5 seconds, nothing major. My lungs were burning at the end, so overall I gave it a good go.

The best part is, run training really hasn't been a focus. Mileage has been slowly building up, but I haven't run more than 25 miles in a week, and at that everything is z1-z2. I have not seen tempo pace since my HIM in September of 2009.

Thanks for reading!


run harder at end.

waiting for wifey and brother.


not much. hills and cold.


good race with chili cook off at the end. a ton of people show up, (1,000+) I think maybe everyone is ready to race!!