Race Report: Glio Blastoff 5K
Two weeks to Bayshore. You know what that means? Time to race one last time! Luckily for me and my schedule, there was a very local 5K just a couple of miles from my house, so I thought I'd get one last PR attempt in before I have to seriously cut back my miles.
.
The race started on the Eastern Michigan campus, went down the bike path to Rynearson Stadium, wound its way (on some grass and gravel) around the football and baseball stadium, back to the path, and then straight to the finish line, about 200 meters from the start. While it wasn't perfectly flat, except for a 50m hill at 2.2 miles, it was pretty much shallow rolling stuff.
The race itself is very small, I would say that there were maybe 80-90 runners, and another 120-140 walkers or so. The weather was changing rapidly. It started out pretty calm, but by the time the race had started, there was a strong wind out of the West. Luckily for us, the trail was shielded from the wind from trees on both sides. I didn't notice it at all going out. It was 60ish at race start and sunny. With the wind blocked, it was pretty much ideal racing weather.
The race started on time, and I went out with four other guys. I dueled with a guy for 4th place for a good chunk of the first mile, but left him behind just after the first mile. It helps that I've run the path often, I think. I turned in a mile split at 6:05. That was fast! I was hoping for something in the 19:15 range, and that was a little faster than it needed to be. We cotinued along a bike path, and then turned right onto a grassy area. This was the hardest part of the course, the spongy grass here, and another spot just sucked the life out of my legs. I had something left after this one, and everything was in good shape. After a couple of more turns, putting us just past Rynearson on the backside, we hit the mile two split, this one slower (6:16), and that worried me a little, because I could start feeling 19:15 slipping a bit. The paved road became gravel, and the gravel became grass for the first 1/3 of mile 3. Finally, though, we turned back on to the bike path for the return trip. Unfortunately, my legs were pretty toast. I just concentrated on turnover, and keeping a decent form. 3rd place was about 10 seconds ahead, and I was pretty much just maintaining the gap. We turned off the bike path, and navigated through the last two parking lots to the finish, and the tank was empty. The finish line came and went at 19:26.0. PR!
Executive Summary:
Chip time: 19:26.0
overall place: 4/222
ag place: 2/6
Well! For leaving all of it on the roads, I finally had a PR! My last fastest time was September, 2004, almost 4.5 years ago! Finally! And I got some pretty shiny hardware out of the deal for second place.
Definitely the obvious confidence builder I needed before Bayshore. The half marathon was nice, but it was a bit ambiguous. This is an obvious sign of improvement on many levels (compare this to the 19:41 from 8 weeks ago). Just awesome! Two weeks to Bayshore!
.
The race started on the Eastern Michigan campus, went down the bike path to Rynearson Stadium, wound its way (on some grass and gravel) around the football and baseball stadium, back to the path, and then straight to the finish line, about 200 meters from the start. While it wasn't perfectly flat, except for a 50m hill at 2.2 miles, it was pretty much shallow rolling stuff.
The race itself is very small, I would say that there were maybe 80-90 runners, and another 120-140 walkers or so. The weather was changing rapidly. It started out pretty calm, but by the time the race had started, there was a strong wind out of the West. Luckily for us, the trail was shielded from the wind from trees on both sides. I didn't notice it at all going out. It was 60ish at race start and sunny. With the wind blocked, it was pretty much ideal racing weather.
The race started on time, and I went out with four other guys. I dueled with a guy for 4th place for a good chunk of the first mile, but left him behind just after the first mile. It helps that I've run the path often, I think. I turned in a mile split at 6:05. That was fast! I was hoping for something in the 19:15 range, and that was a little faster than it needed to be. We cotinued along a bike path, and then turned right onto a grassy area. This was the hardest part of the course, the spongy grass here, and another spot just sucked the life out of my legs. I had something left after this one, and everything was in good shape. After a couple of more turns, putting us just past Rynearson on the backside, we hit the mile two split, this one slower (6:16), and that worried me a little, because I could start feeling 19:15 slipping a bit. The paved road became gravel, and the gravel became grass for the first 1/3 of mile 3. Finally, though, we turned back on to the bike path for the return trip. Unfortunately, my legs were pretty toast. I just concentrated on turnover, and keeping a decent form. 3rd place was about 10 seconds ahead, and I was pretty much just maintaining the gap. We turned off the bike path, and navigated through the last two parking lots to the finish, and the tank was empty. The finish line came and went at 19:26.0. PR!
Executive Summary:
Chip time: 19:26.0
overall place: 4/222
ag place: 2/6
Well! For leaving all of it on the roads, I finally had a PR! My last fastest time was September, 2004, almost 4.5 years ago! Finally! And I got some pretty shiny hardware out of the deal for second place.
Definitely the obvious confidence builder I needed before Bayshore. The half marathon was nice, but it was a bit ambiguous. This is an obvious sign of improvement on many levels (compare this to the 19:41 from 8 weeks ago). Just awesome! Two weeks to Bayshore!