Continuing with my running focus into the summer while prepping for a sprint mid-July. This was a test of sorts as I haven't run an open 5K in quite a while (except for running while sick back in February) so eager to see what I can do. Came off a good three weeks of training, then a bit of a taper in the lead-up to the race.

Weather wasn't exact PR land...warm, super humid, like 84 degrees and drizzling a little with the sun trying to break through as well. The course is the Baltimore & Annapolis trail and is basically one big false flat with a climb in the middle, out and back course. I think on a perfect running day sub-25 could be had but not in this soup, so tempering expectations a bit to around 26 or so.

Drove down to the race site and figured out the Parkrun process - volunteers were great. Did about a mile warmup progressing to T pace, then lots of stretching and some light sprints about 5 minutes before. Feeling pretty spry other than it's cooking hot out already.

The Plan was to go out around 8 flat and hold that as long as possible, burn some matches on the middle mile hills and hope I have a kick the final half mile.

Mile 1 - "Feeling Pretty Good"

Count down and we're off. I start pretty close to the front to get out cleanly and I started a little too quick as I was in mid-7 territory. About a 1/4 mile in I settle into that 8-ish pace, HR is tracking well (more on this later) and I hit the one mile mark at 8:01. Perfectly executed and I'm not dying yet.

Mile 2 - "Oooo THIS is How a 5K Hurts"

Mile 2 starts out with a short steep hill to go over a pedestrian bridge, so I push up it knowing I'll get a breather on the descent. Ouch this hurts. Downhill now, holding more like 8:30 now, HR is climbing to what I think is zone 4 (spoiler alert - it's more like my zone 5 now), so I keep pushing...got over the hill coming back and let loose a little. Mile 2 at 8:34. Time for the Pain Cave.

Mile 3.1 - "I Need to Race More"

False flat uphill immediately saps the life out of me and I take a walk break - just like 6-7 seconds, then push on again for about a minute or two, then repeat that process a couple of more times to get to about 2.5 miles in, holding mid-9s on this mile (ugh). Finally get a little HTFU in me and finished out the mile strong, then kicked the final 200 yards or so to the finish. Mile 3 at 9:11, the kick in the low 7s.

26:26 finish, 10/52 overall, 10/32 men, 1/4 M 55-59 so a 1st place finish LOL.

Pace a tad slower to go out, get some HTFU mentally - I'm still not at the top of my game run-racing.

Immediately double-over and had to really focus to not puke - so I apparently gave it a good effort. Jogged around for a bit and watched my daughter come in about two minutes later. Did a proper cool-down with about a half mile jog/walk and a bunch of stretching. Then we went to the convenience store and I got a grape soda because, you know, I'm eight years old. :-)

The heat and pacing a little, but happy with the results. 8/10 effort.

I also noted that I need to adjust my running heart rate zones...I was redlining physically and mentally the final 1/4 and my HR was like 7-8 beats slower than what I was doing the last time I was run-racing a lot (which of course was 10 years ago, so that makes sense). I don't usually train by heart rate, but it's good information to know.

Parkrun is awesome, will do this again as a test event every few weeks.