Flying Angel 5K - Run5k

Set my race plan to follow a HR goal for each mile and not to go by time. Set my watch to only show Distance and HR with no reference from time. Mile 1 I was slightly under my goal but I think the course led to missing the goal on mile 2. For the most part of the 1st mile it was a steady uphill run. Nothing major but enough to notice. Flattened out after that mile.

At the start of the race everyone I was with shot off, I held to my plan and let them go. That was extremely hard though! Ran at a steady, but somewhat pushed pace until my HR found a spot and settled in, from here I stayed on top of the hr and was able to keep it down around my goal. At the mile 1 split I heard the 7:17 and was shocked. I just didn't feel like I was running that hard.

Mile 2 goal was 165 and I just couldn't hold the HR down. I think I hit 164 once but other than that it was mostly around 168. During the majority of this mile I felt like I was pulling back and kept slowing down to keep my HR from sky rocketing. During this mile I had roughly 2 or 3 other runners around me and the next group was maybe 50yds ahead of me. Finished this split at 7:35, not terrible at all since I was forcing myself to slow down.

Mile 3 and time to see how "fast" i could go. Started to increase pace and the 3 guys that had been running with me quickly dissappeared in the rear view!! At this time I started to concentrate on the runners in front of me. Between mile 2-2.5 I passed 3 other runners, and caught up to a group of another 3 runners. I held pace with this group until around the 2.8 mile marker. At this stage the course made the 2nd to last turn and when I made this turn I picked up the pace, to the point that I felt like I went to another gear. Once again the group I was running with couldn't keep up (found out later one of the runners was in my AG :)0) Set my sights on the next 2 runners but these guys were flying, made the turn to the last 200m and gave it everything I could. Caught up with 1 guy with maybe 75m left, but I had no more go, he was able to pick up pace and finished maybe 4s ahead of me!

The last mile of this race was amazing, I felt strong and never struggled like I have in the past. I think the strategy of holding back some early in the race paid off with at least 5 spots in the overall rankings. Having that extra kick was something I am not used to having,all of the running is starting to pay off.

Overall this was the best effort both mentally and physically I have put into any race regardless of distance. I think the onnly dissapointing part of this race was not being able to catch back up with Keith. He had went out well ahead of me early on in the race and I was closing the gap but ran out of time.

Also I have to give the shout out to the Sunday Running group. We swept podium for the 35-39 group with Austin taking 1st, Keith 2nd and me taking 3rd. Chris was able to take 1st in the 25-29 AG. Nice to see the the effort the 4 of us put in showing good results (Plus I wasn't last out of the group)

Finally it is now official, I have knocked 10 minutes off of my 1st 5K time 1 year ago. This time last year I was just starting and ran a 32:52, the 22:42 today is an incredible achievement for a slow fat guy (Although I think that desciption left about 6 months a go)

NOTHING, this was a great race where I set a PR!

Light stretching then waited for door prizes and AG awards. Once this was done had the 8 mile bike ride home left


Nothing


For 1st time race organizer's this group did an excellent job. Extremely touching story and to listen to the mom talk about losing her 8yr old daughter just about brought tears to my eyes. Well worth supporting their efforts.