I felt tired, legs felt heavy and breathing was difficult the entire race. I am not sure why I felt the way I did but man this was tough. It was definately the hardest 5K I have run. The first mile I had already run so I knew what to expect. Started at the front of the pack and after the initial surge of about 15 fast people took off and formed a little pack I was left pretty much running by myself or with one or two people. I hit the mile maker at 7:14 pace and immediately knew why I was hurting. Mile 2 took forever and having not run the course I didn't know where the turnaround was. It was hilly and all I could think of was where were the leaders. Surely they should be coming back by now. I saw the mile maker for mile 2 on the way out and kept and still hadn't seen the leaders. Eventually I hit the turnaround and see Eric about 10-15 sec's behind me and I kept expecting him to catch me. It kept my pace up because had he caught me I don't know if I could of stayed with him. Finally hit mile two with an 8:00 split. It was a mixed feeling. I hated the 7:14 and the pain but I wished I could of seen 7 something on the second mile. The final mile was over ground already covered. I knew there were hills but I though most of them should be downhill, afterall I had climbed up the entire way out. Unfortunately, the hills were up and down so I climbed as much on the way back as I did on the way out. I kept hearing someone right on my heals during mile three. I thought it was Eric and I wished he would just catch up and we could pace each other. It was and this guy followed me for another 1/2 mile before finally passing me. It drove me nuts having someone breathing right down my neck pacing me. I tried to pick up the pace near the end of mile three but it was tough. Mile 3 was 7:52. The last .1 was all up hill and very tough at this point. Was able to somewhat mentally sprint to the finish but I was finally done.
I am not too disappointed with me time but at the same time I am disappointed with how I felt running that time. Hopefully the 1/2 coming up feels much better. I do know that I will not run a 7:14 opening mile in 2 weeks.

Know the course. To be faster I would need to start speedwork before doing any 5K's. Know the course.

Walk back to the snack table and walk around until Eric finished then sat around and ate organges and talked to people.


Hills, conditioning & poor pacing.


I liked the race, just not my feeling during the race. Knowing what to expect will help next year. It is a benefit race for my son's school so that was pretty cool.