It’s not just one, but two, two race reports in one!
I ran the Smyrna Parks 5k and 1 Mile race this past weekend. And I did awesome.
I took 1:30 off my previous PR (from the Striders’ Picnic 5k)! And I came close to my 6 minute track mile PR from my speed sessions. Sweet!
The day started off HOT and HUMID. I registered and then ran a little warm-up half mile. I’ve been doing this in speed sessions, and I think it works well for races as well. I met up with a Bourbon Chaser teammate, Bill, wished him luck and headed to the start line.
At the start, I was surrounded by kids. There were kids everywhere because the race was open to Cross Country teams. It was a cool site to see all the kids out there enjoying running.
The gun went off and I started with a pace around 7:30. I felt good. I was curious as to what a good starting pace would be, because I haven’t run many 5ks, but this was a great starting pace seeing as I’m pretty sure I had negative splits the whole way!
This ended up being a fun race. First, it was FLAT! I couldn’t believe how flat it was, and it felt awesome. Second, it was fun the run with all the kids around. Third, I ended up having a nice finish with a 22:42! I finished 6/12 in my age group, 100/380 total.
I finished, caught my breath, got a bottle of water and had to prepare… I was running a mile race in less than an hour! In between races, I hung out with some fellow Striders (the fast bunch, who shrug at 17:30 5k, saying it was nothing!) and tried to keep my legs loose.
Soon, it was race time. I felt like I was pretty hardcore when I lined up. There were a total of 42 who stuck around for the mile race. The gun went off and my legs felt TIGHT! It was tough to get through that first quarter, but I did. I kept a pretty good pace and saved a bit for my sprint at the end.. I ended up with a 6:12 time! Not bad for after a PR 5k! And only 12 seconds off my best. I also finished 2nd in my age group (OK, out of 2.. but still….) I finished in dead middle 21/42.
That’s become standard for me. I have a tendency to stay in the middle of the pack. But that’s okay, because I keep getting faster with new PRs.
Great races, great day…
…except for one fact: Our reward for running both races: They ran out of BBQ and Chic-fil-a. Thanks Guys! Grr.