UC 5k Double Take

Matt - Place: 16; Net time: 22:08; Avg. pace: 7:08/mi

I was not expecting a chilly morning like we had two weeks prior to this race in the Foxtrot 5k, but that is what we got. After huddling inside UC's new Innovation Center for half an hour it felt downright frigid outside. It's no wonder that my first mile split in this race was the fastest at 7:02. I warmed up, and tired out, in that first mile. As I reached the 29th Street intersection on Frontage Road, a car pulled up to the crossing. It rolled to the intersection and then accelerated right next to two runners in front of me! We yelled and screamed at the woman driving who was either half-asleep, drunk, or incompetent (Oxford commas rule).
Shaking off that near catastrophic sight, I huffed and puffed down Virginia Ave to the turn-around point. Our friend Scott was about 50 meters behind me, and we encouraged each other to keep pushing it. Fatigue caught up with me and I slowed down on the back half of the race. My second and third mile splits were 7:17 and 7:30, respectively. This put me on the UC lawn and near the finish around the 22 minute mark. Both of my GPS apps counted the distance at around 3.05 miles, so this race was about one-tenth of a mile short of a full 5k. Nonetheless, it was my fastest pace in a long time and made for a happy start to the weekend. Below are a few pictures from the event.

UC 5k 2017

Ashley - Place: 49; Net Time: 27:24; Avg. pace: 8:49/mi

Matt and I decided to start our April with a 5k that conveniently started about a block from our house. While I’ve kept up a decent work-out schedule for a while, I admittedly have not been running much, so I didn’t have high expectations when we ran our first 5k of the season a couple weeks ago (you can read about Matt’s experience at the Fox Trot 5k.) Surprisingly I had a pretty good time (28:33) which gave me a little confidence to run the race on Saturday.

Since the race was essentially in our back yard, we know the route well and it is a frequent weekend run course for us. Although we’re a few weeks into spring, the morning started out cold (around 45 degrees) and there was a rainy mist in the air. We met up with a friend before the start and impatiently waited for gun time. Looking around I feared that I would be toward the back of the pack since there weren’t a lot of runners.

Once the race started I tried to keep a respectable yet cautious pace to make sure I didn’t waste too much energy up front. I saw Matt and our friend Scott quickly make it out toward the front and the distance between us increased steadily. At the first mile my Nike app alerted me of a sub-9 minute pace, unusually quick for me, but I tried to keep that pace up for the remainder of the race.

There were tons of race volunteers cheering us on along the way, which was a nice touch. As I neared the halfway point I started to think I might be able to keep up my pace and potentially get a personal record. My favorite song from Hamilton, “The Schuyler Sisters” came through my earbuds at a critical 2 mile point and helped motivate me to the finish.

I picked up the pace in the last tenth of a mile and finished with a time of 27:24 – a new record for me! I caught up with Matt and Scott, who finished within 20 seconds of each other, and both set new PRs!

Now we’re scouting out the next local 5k to run to keep us in shape, and the next 10k for team PTR.