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Comments: "Well, I Finished Without Embarrassment" Figured I'd ease into the race so deliberately kept myself back to start, and I wound up getting caught immediately stumbling over kids weaving all over the place and oblivious parents making it worse. Not that I care at this point as I'm already cramping. First half mile continued with getting through the traffic and into what constitutes a rhythm, then we had a turnaround and it thinned out a little so I was able to get into the race. HR is tracking a tad high but holding low 140s. Got to mile 1 at 8:11 good pacing so far and other than my stomach I'm feeling pretty good. Mile 2 was more technical with lots of turns so I worked the tangents and tried to hold around 8-flat pace but it was hard to track on my Garmin with all of the turns. I get to mile 2 course marker at 16-flat - that's not right LOL though that would've been great. Stopped to walk for about 10 seconds to fight off a cramping wave. Mile 3 was some more technical stuff AND a turnaround (and a poorly marked course). Pace is still holding but I'm fading a bit and HR is creeping up (mid 140s) and I think I'm getting pretty dehydrated. I take another short cramp-induced walk break at about 2.4 or so then just held on after that. Hit mile 3 on the Garmin about a 1/4 mile from the finish, which is always mentally tough but I really didn't care knowing I wasn't crushing it today. Held pace the final 1/4 with a very light kick at the end to hold off some lady and her 11 or 12 year old daughter. 27-flat chip time, 26:13 5K on the Garmin. I verified with several people that the race was long. What would you do differently?: Nothing - happy with pacing all things considered. Knew I wasn't getting a 2020s PR but treated it more like a long threshold run.  Post race
Warm down: Doubled-over cramping and now trying not to puke as well. My daughter finished like a minute after me and she didn't feel great either. Drove home and hit the foam roller and stretched then spent the rest of the day trying to feel better. Two days later as I type this I'm still pretty sore. Good grief I'm old. What limited your ability to perform faster: The aforementioned Kaopectate diet. I still need to spend some more time run racing, so I've revamped the rest of my training plan to incorporate 2-3 more run races before my 'A' sprint tri in early June. Still felt to let it rip a little even with the stomach issues. Event comments: Charm City Run does a good job organizing races and this one was no different, though the crazy course markings and distances kept it from a 5 rating. Last updated: 2024-02-12 12:00 AM
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United States
Charm City Run
50F / 10C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 68/242
Age Group = M 50-54
Age Group Rank = 2/6
"Chasing a VDOT"
In the middle of a sprint training program, currently in a bike focus but I just came off my biggest run block in almost ten years, so figured it's time to get in a 5K race to assess where I am. My daughter decided to race with me as well, so we picked the Cupid's Chase as it's on a flat course that we run all the time and Charm City Run does it so it should be well run.
The week leading up wasn't ideal - traveling for work but got in my usual workouts early in the week and then one day at the hotel gym. I got home without any issues on Friday early enough to do the usual pre-race Friday night pizza and a couple of beers. Fuel of champions.
I've been training at a Daniels VDOT of 37 so I was guessing high 25s for results, and just wanted to beat my daughter to keep the family running belt.
Went to bed relatively early, slept like crap and work up super early. Ugh.
"Kaopectate is not Pre-Race Fuel"
Got up did my usual race-day breakfast of a Zone bar, an apple, and coffee. Then my tummy started having a fit and spent the next two hours in and out of the bathroom hoping it was just traveling and all. Did a short warm-up on the bike, stretched, grabbed a quick shower, dressed and headed down, hoping my stomach would chill out after a little after some tummy medicine.
Got to the race site, parked about 2 minutes away, checked in and did a mile run warm-up. Stomach was not happy but I think I was kinda empty at the point, so just a little cramping. I debated bailing on it but I dragged my daughter and The Sherpa down so I figured I'd give it a go. There's a bail out at about a mile if an emergency arose. :-/
Probably didn't really warm-up properly so I'll ease into the race.
There were at least 50 kids running this race so I also expected dodging some obstacles.