Race for Rylie 5K

Nockamixon Marina

I'm not a speedy guy. Aside from the occasional fartlek, I rarely do any speed work at all. I know this might sound counterintuitive, but when I focus on going fast, running starts to seem more of a bothersome chore, losing that pristine Martin Sheen glean, compared to those happy-go-lucky long distance runs that I thrive on. 

Today was my second race ever. The last one I ran was a bit longer, by about 38km, so I wasn't too worried about going into a 5k, somewhat, untrained. I have been running leisurely without a schedule for the past few months now, so I knew my base endurance was covered, it was the speed that was up in the air like a kite with a key waiting to discover electricity. As a bit of a strategic precaution, I opted not to wear my marathon hat, even though it is the most comfortable cap I own; I just didn't want to be singled out as the guy to beat (because I'm certainly not), nor did I want to face the chance of embarrassment incase I was unable to finish a 5k while parading around like a peacock in my precious Tokyo Marathon 2011 commemorative headgear. If it came to that, I probably would have cannonball ran into the lake to hide my tears in the wake of the sailboats drifting by like rippling reflections of the clouds above. 

The plan was to wake up at 6am to sip some coffee and eat bananas, blueberries, and maybe an apple. The plan changed when I woke up at 7am instead. Luckily, I had leftover green smoothie from the day before in the fridge. There was just enough for a full pint glass. Pete & his Pop came by to pick me up at 7:30am, for a race that was 40 minutes away and starting in about an hour.

Onto the race...



The race was held at Nockamixon State Park, with a starting line right next to the marina. Despite forecasts of possible thunderstorms the night before, the day was beautiful (evidenced in the photo above). The course was an out & back 3.1 mile slender serpentine sidewinder that you could occasionally view the massive lake from, whenever the trees were kind enough to clear out of the way. There was a decent size crowd of about 60 runners. We lined up, and after a bit of chit chat, the race began with a bang (literally...there was a gun and all).

Immediately, the frontrunners moved in a clump. The path was too narrow to provide us with adequate space to maneuver comfortably without colliding into one another, which had me concerned about congestion at the turnaround due to the there & back again Hobbit's tale nature of the route, but I really didn't want to rush out ahead too soon. I ultimately had no choice; I slide past the pack, and spotted the leader WAY out ahead of us. I wasn't going to attempt to catch him, he was out of my league. So I stayed just ahead of the cloud of runners drifting on my heels.

My first mile was 6:53 min. I only know this because the guy keeping pace with me at that moment called it out at the first mile marker. At that point, I just assumed I was looking at an overall 21min. run, with a slight hope to fulfill my secret wish of breaking 20 minutes. I was hopeful when I saw the front runner heading back toward the marina, surely it meant the halfway point was right up ahead, but when I came around the bend to see a long stretch of pavement with no signs of mile markers, I immediately realized just how fast that guy was going.

The turnaround at 1.55 miles slowed me down, it simply involved running around a parking cone, but the ground was also a bit slippery when wet, this maneuver seemed to take some steam out of my step. During the second mile is when a few people started passing me, I was cruising along at a quick clip, but still holding back for the final sprint. This is probably where I was most foolish in my strategy, because I let those that passed me slip too far ahead, and I was left with no one to check my pace against. My new plan was to stay the course, and not let anyone else pass me in the meantime. Which I held to quite readily. Though a little girl on a pink bicycle that had training wheels did pass me, my ego was no more bruised than an orange, overtaken by gravity, falling from a low dangling branch and rolling across the cool ground of a shady citrus scented Floridian grove.

The music from the event tent came bumping with bass through the tree lines, and I knew I was getting there, but nothing was clearly marked past the 2 mile point. I was expecting to see a 2.5 marker, at which point I intended to switch from t-mobile to sprint; as it was, I didn't punch it into hyperdrive until about the last quarter mile. This revealed my second mistake, because as soon as I started running faster, I realized that I could have increased my pace much sooner. I quickly adapted to the speed and began feeling more energized overall. If I had picked it up sooner, I may have finished out the race in better standings.

Pete's Pop, Pete, & Joe

I suppose it's near needless to say, but we all had a blast. It was the perfect equation: running + a good cause = Awesomeness. Pete & his Pop are both fans of the Merrell barefoot style shoes, which are like Vibrams, without the hassle of the fivefingers. Maybe another worthwhile observation is that the guy that beat me in my age group was wearing Vibrams. When all is said and done, I probably could have done better, but I feel pretty good about how I did. Having not done any speed work prior to the race, I ran 5K in 23:17min., I finished 12th place, and came in second for my age group. I was secretly hoping to break 20 minutes, but now I have a new goal for next time, eh?