Ashley - Place: 36; Net Time: 28:33.4; Avg. pace: 9:13/mi
Mike - Place: 64; Net Time: 34:36.1; Avg. pace: 11:09/mi
A mid-March 5k race is quite unpredictable. Not only can the weather range from sunny and mid-60s to rainy and low 40s, it can do that in the same day. This time of year is also the first race most of us have done since winter fell. Creaking joints and blurry eyes still managed to make it to the start line outside of the Capitol Market the day after St. Patrick's Day. It had rained a lot in the pre-dawn hours leaving the pavement slick. The temperatures hovered in the 40-45 degree range depending on whether the sun was peaking out through the clouds. Mike, Ashley, and I got to the start line and noticed that not too many runners were toeing said line. I moved up immediately in order to not get caught behind any walkers. Apparently, this race was not going to be crowded with speedsters. Mike and Ashley both moved up behind me a couple minutes before the gun sounded.
As usual, the anticipation to start running was high and it felt like we waited an hour to get moving. The gun finally sounded and I happily half-sprinted the first few hundred meters, shaking off the cold. Wet roads mostly did not affect my stride. The first half mile was pancake flat, then we hit a short uphill stint on Chilton Street which connected the route to Piedmont Road. That small hill broke up my pace and got me breathing heavy. The one-mile-mark was hit behind Laidley Field and I finished that first split in about 7:10. That was a little too fast given that the back half would be slightly uphill on the same stretch next to Laidley Field.
I hit the halfway mark behind the Capitol, where I ran around an older gentleman race volunteer who runners were treating like a cone. My first 1.5 miles was right about the same 7:10 pace I had on the first mile. All that was left was to return on the same roads that led to the Capitol. The second mile was completed, again, behind Laidley; my pace had slowed down to about 7:30 for this split. I battled to keep a decent pace on the slight uphill stretch. Then, I hit Chilton Street again and coasted downhill for 100 meters or so. My pace slowed down again on the flats. Once I hit Smith Street though, I was able to muster a three-quarters sprint to the finish line. I could see the clock ticking up towards 23:00 at the finish and tried my best to beat that mark. I missed it by two seconds but thankfully my net time was seven-hundredths of a second below it. Talk about cutting it close.
The cool down period took a solid minute. I grabbed a couple waters and returned to the finish line to get a few photos of Ashley's finish. She ran to the finish all smiles, hands in the air.
Mike had some knee pain and was admittedly not in his running shape yet this year. He still had a nice sprint to the finish line though.
We finished and waited around for a while. With such a small field of runners we anticipated that Ashley or I may have placed in our age groups. Little did we suspect that we both placed first in our age groups. That is a PTR first, no doubt. Mike scolded us for betraying the essence of participation trophy running, which we deserved. With dined over the good news at First Watch.
With our first race of 2017 in the books we look forward to more fun on the roads this Spring.
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