Gurley, Alabama
Saturday, May 10, 2008
USATF Certified AL99008JD
Gurley Library Challenge 5k Results
Mile 1 5:36
Lined up knowing that this was going to be a battle. Though I had never met him before, I heard that John Krichev was lingering in the back of the pack, making his way to the front. His times are phenomenal and he would be the rabbit of the pack. The other usual suspects were there, including weekly 5k favorite Donald Bowman and a few other stronger runners like The Mike Greene. The weather was warmer than preferred, but seasonally cooler than normal.
I went out fairly quick, falling into single profile line by the 2nd turn. I was running in 6th place through the second turn. I was at 2:49 through the first half mile. This section was slightly downhill, and I sensed the two people in front of me had gone out slightly too fast, so I made a move to pass. My move wasn't as strong as normal, or maybe as I passed into 4th, the guy hung on longer than most. As I pushed, he pushed. This lasted for a 100 meters or so, and then I surged ahead and then relaxed the pace, having padded a small lead over 5th place. My second half mile was at 2:47.
Mile 2 5:46
After the two mile mark, we made a left and had a slight hill through a small two house neighborhood on the very edge of town. The gap to 3rd place in front of me now had grown to where I could only see Donald on the straight aways. I still felt ok, clocking a 2:50 half mile split. Coming back at the 1.5 mile mark, we ran passed the rest of the runners that were hitting the one mile mark. I saw Laura, who shouted out that I was in 4th place. Seeing all of the people was motivating, but that would soon fade.
The heat really started to get to me at this point and not being able to see anyone in front or behind me, I lost most of my motivation. I made a few turns, but the pace slowed to 2:56 for the half mile split. I still had a 5:46 mile split, which was at the average that I wanted for the race, but I could tell that I couldn't hold on for much longer.
Mile 3 5:52
This section had four turns but still was fairly flat. On one turn I didn't see much direction indicators, so had to ask a nice fireman. He pointed to the right and then I saw the course marker painted on the ground. I was not significantly slower than my goal pace, running a half mile split 2:58. I will not say that I gave up in this section, but I sort of settled into my position in the race. I was no longer pushing it, but still running at over 10 miles an hour.
With only a half mile to go, I kind of had a spark in motivation that I only had 3 minutes or so to run before I could be done. I looked at my watch and realized that I was still on 18 minute pace, which, other than last week, was still PR pace. I picked it up a little over the first half of the third mile and ran a 2:54, which wasn't too far off of goal pace.
Mile 3.1 0:49
The mile markers were right on with my GPS through 2 miles, but this mile I measured a little short, meaning the last 0.107 miles of the race took slightly longer. I must have not run the tangents of the course as I got tired.
We made the last left turn and faced the 'hill' of the course. It really wasn't much, and knowing that just on the other side was the finish. I picked it up a little, but it was too late. As I crossed the finish and stopped my watch, I saw 18:03. As I said before, take out the Senior Cup 5k from the week before, and this would have been a new PR. Now that sub 18 is the new standard for my 5k times, anything less than that is sort of a disappointment.
The After Race
Mike, Donald and I did a little cool down after the race. On the way out, Donald tripped over his shoe laces and went down hard. I had bad flashbacks of Brian Robinson going down in front of me on a trail run earlier this spring; a fall that put him out of commission for quite some time. I am sure that his shortened stride and long lace loops were part of the problem. Despite rumors, I did not push him down:) I have Mike to vouch for me! We finished our cool down and headed back. I was still feeling unresolved and went out for another 1.5 miles of cool down, which turned into a little speed session. I ran at mid six pace, which made me feel better.
In the end, I finished 4th of 107 runners and 1st in M30-34. Good experience, good race, decent time. The Krichev's cleaned up, taking overall male and overall female; what a great day for the family! Donald was back to his old ways and was feeling better with a time more like the Donald that we know in finishing 2nd. Trey (who won the ReCreation Run) finished 3rd, a full 30 seconds ahead of me.
The Cissels (Jim and Sharon) did another great job putting on a small hometown race that brings the community together. It was a pleasure to help them out by running and with the use of the HTC race equipment.
| Place | Name | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Krichev | 16:44 |
| 2 | Donald Bowman | 17:11 |
| 3 | Trey Broadway | 17:33 |
| 4 | Eric Charette | 18:03 |