Azalea Classic 5k - Run5k

The start was the usual melee. The race attracts lots of young kids, many of whom start near the front and go tearing off at the start. It's kind of charming, but also a bit of a hazard, and I can't help feeling sorry for how much they're going to suffer once they hit the hills.

Mile #1. By the top of the first hill I had worked my way clear of the initial mayhem and was in 4th. Two of the guys ahead of me had started at a reasonable pace and looked good for keeping it up. One looked like a late teen who had gone off way too fast, but wasn't fading as fast as I had expected (updated: he's a 17-year old who has been getting faster every year; he'll have me for breakfast in a year or two). Towards the top of the next hill I passed the first mile marker in 5:49. A few seconds slower than last year, but right around where I wanted to be.

Mile #2. This is the hardest mile of the race, with two small climbs and two larger ones. The goal was to keep working hard on the climbs and to try to keep close to 6:00 pace. I closed gradually on the kid in 3rd; the other two guys were not too far ahead, so I could follow the lead car, but the leaders didn't look like they were slowing. Around 1.3 miles the course doubles back on itself at the end of a loop, so I passed crowds of runners entering the loop in the other direction, just a couple of blocks from my house. That was cool, as I go to see lots of people that I know, including Zoe. I cheered for them, and they cheered for me. Good times. I pushed on the steepest climb of the race, right before 2 miles, and the kid wasn't coming back as quickly as I hoped, but by keeping up the effort at the top of the climb, I reeled him in fairly quickly. 2 miles reached in 11:55 (6:06). I figured that was ok. I was now 7s ahead of last year's pace.

Mile #3. One more climb, a little gentler this time, and then it was a gradual downhill for almost all of the last mile. I pushed the pace on a bit. No danger behind, and also not making up ground ahead (not losing a lot either). The last half mile covered very familiar ground close to home, so I knew exactly how far I had to go to reach the finish at the school field. 3rd mile in 5:51. I reached the finish in 18:14 by my watch (gun time was a couple of seconds slower - I was behind those kids at the start), so 19s faster than last year. This was right around where I expected to be. Any slower and I would have been disappointed; and although I'm confident that I could do 17:xx right now, this is not the course for that. Happy to keep up my recent streak of getting faster every year, though worried that I may struggle to maintain that. Also happy to make top 3 OA. As far as I can recall, I've never done that in a road race before, like never in my life. (Well, discounting relays in which I was handed a big headstart by my teammates.)


I could perhaps have pushed a little harder in the first couple of miles, but I'm not sure that I could have. I don't have a whole lot of additional pace to give right now. No speedwork, and not enough miles, been hovering around 30 mpw. With all of the hills in the first 2 miles, then the last mile being the easiest, it's a hard race to pace.

Jogged around at the finish to try to keep my sore achilles from tightening. And there were lots of people who I wanted to cheer into the finish. Zoe's old music teacher put in a great race to come in around 6th, and since I was in 3rd overall, I think he got to be the official AG winner -- *very* popular with all the kids. Alison, a work friend who I had recruited to our Ragnar Relay team just a couple of days before, came in 2nd OA woman -- so I felt good about that one. Yakov was slower than usual, but just happy to be running again. Shevaun, another of our Ragnar regulars, hit right around 27 minutes, and was thrilled to be 2nd in her AG (20-29 is a good AG to be in when the race mostly attracts kids and parents). Alexandra came in at 27:33, for 3rd in the 1-12 AG -- she was thrilled with that. Zoe was close behind her in 27:57. She was initially gutted to be 4th in the AG, thereby missing out on the little trophies that they had just for the youngest AG, but she got over that. It was close to a 3-minute PR for her, so my wife and I are hoping that it will convince her that the training that she's been doing with the track club really does help. And if it shows that just a little more is needed to reach her goals, then that's fine too. She had been targeting top 100 OA, after being 156th last year, and seemed pretty happy to be 102nd.

In recent years I've been accustomed to getting a pair of socks as an AG award in this race. But since my wife has been working hard on getting into shape over the past 8 months (walking only, marching up steep hills, but making great progress), we've been having a shortage of running socks in the family. So I was thrilled to win *4* pairs of socks this year. Exactly what we need right now.


Training, injuries.


A fun local event, very family oriented, all about getting kids and families in shape. The kids' races go up and down the main avenue in the town, and really get a lot of attention. The kids love it. And there's a dance party on the school yard afterwards, with kids and teachers practicing their moves together.