This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

After tuning up two weeks earlier at a small local 5K, I stepped up my game and showed up at the Deer Run. Pre-race, I told myself if I improved by 20 seconds over the prior race (17:43) I’d consider it a good race. If I improved by 30 seconds, I’d consider it a great race. If all the stars aligned, maybe I could even take a crack at sub-17, though a 44 second improvement in two weeks seems like a tall order.

I could begin to see early in the week that the stars wouldn’t align. Monday, we had a significant hail storm that caused damage to our home. That meant, instead of a relaxing and restful Wednesday I had planned to recover after a very busy prior weekend, I got to spend all day talking with contractors and insurance people about getting the house fixed. I got to follow that up with another Friday evening discussion. Not the most restful way to spend a race week but some things need to get done.

On race day, as relaxed and rested as I could be, I took the trip to Brown Deer. I arrived earlier than intended and much earlier than necessary, picked up my race packet and went back to my car to relax and prepare. It was pretty chilly and seemed like it could rain any moment so we stayed in the car.

After a while just relaxing, Ed showed up at my car and we chatted until warmup time. I loosened up a bit, then we went on our warmup. We reviewed the finish as I always like to do so I can get a feel of how far from the finish certain landmarks are and can plan my finish accordingly.

After a few strides, it was time to line up. Looking around at competition, I first assumed that the 5K runners were wearing 3 digit bib numbers and the 10K runners 4 digit bib numbers. That helped me determine who the competition was. My eye instantly went to a PRO runner with a 3 digit number and I picked him out as the likely eventual winner. I saw a few others who looked like legit competition but nobody else who I figured was out of my league.

At the start, I felt like I got out well but not great. Pretty quickly, I settled in to 4th place, with the PRO runner and a guy in a red shirt already separating from the pack and myself in a pretty good size pack just off the shoulder of someone I wasn’t sure of but didn’t really expect would be too much competition in the end.

In pretty short order, I found myself in front of the chase pack but the pack was remaining surprisingly large. I didn’t expect that many runners to keep hanging around. Eventually, though, I separated from the pack. About the same time, the PRO runner separated from the guy in the red shirt. My first thought was I hope red shirt guy is blowing up and I can bring him back in. I went into chase mode but pretty quickly realized that PRO guy likely just picked up the pace. I was bringing in red shirt guy but very gradually.

Every once in a while, red shirt guy would surge and build back his lead on me. However, one thing I noticed early and continued to notice throughout the race was that red shirt guy was not at all running good tangents. He was running much farther than necessary. Taking the shortest line possible is one of my strengths so this gave me an advantage and I could see it through parts of the course that had a lot of turns. He was always going wide, I was always trying to anticipate turns and take the shortest line. Between this and my slight acceleration, I was generally closing the gap but not quickly.

I was losing hope of closing the gap before the finish line when I saw the 5 mile mark for the 10K. I thought we were already farther along so this gave me a surge of energy. Maybe backward from what you would expect but, instead of saying I have longer than I thought to go and I don’t have a lot left, I told myself I have longer than I thought to work on red shirt guy’s lead and maybe I have a chance. Combined with catching him looking back toward me, a sign of weakness I love to take advantage of, I decided to take a shot. Of course, I told myself it’s now or never. If I don’t make some serious work of this gap in the next half mile, I will run out of time.

So I did all I could to make serious work of the gap and I did close the gap quite a bit. With what I would estimate to be a half mile to go, I was within striking distance. The problem is, if this guy had any kick, I’d be a sitting duck. I never have a great kick and, with all the work I had done to close the gap, my kick would be even weaker than usual. I tried with all I could to close the gap as soon as possible.

With about 1/4 mile to go, we go around a left, then there’s another left into the finish. By this point, I’m not with red shirt guy but I’m definitely in reach. He swung out to the middle of the road off the left turn, I stayed right on the left shoulder trying to minimize my distance. I kept chipping away at his lead until I figured that, around the final turn, we’d be almost even. Then it would come down to who had a kick. Then he kicked before that turn. I had nothing to respond and he extended his lead in the final straight.

In the end, I finished third in 17:23, 4 seconds behind second place but with a healthy gap over fourth. That was exactly 20 seconds faster than two weeks ago so I’ll call it a good race.

I can’t help but wonder if I could have gotten second with a more aggressive first half of the race but I doubt it. I ran about the best race possible and gave it all my legs had and I came up a little short. That’s life. Sometimes you have it, sometimes you don’t. I can still feel that the base is with me and I need sharpening work to run a more solid 5K but that’s a reasonable place to be at the end of April.

A couple pics from the race and results:

Early on: probably not quite as aggressive as I should have been.

Shortly before the last turn: what it looks like when you’ve spent a lot to catch up and have nothing left.

Results

This article was originally posted by Ed at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

I like to be pretty early to my races so when I was leaving 15 minutes behind schedule I was a bit anxious but I still had plenty of time. I arrived on-site and walked to check in and pick up my race packet. I asked if Ryan Hill had checked in yet and they stated that he had. I went back to my car to pin on the race bib and noticed only two pins in the packet. Its a good thing I always have at least eight pins in my car at all times. After pinning on my race bib I went to find Ryan. I knew where he liked to park at this race so I headed over there and sure enough he was there.

We talked a bit about life in general then prepared for a warm-up. I mentioned that based on some of my workout paces I thought if everything went perfect I could maybe pull-off a 5:50 pace. The warm up was easy paced and just about 1.4 miles. We did some light stretching and then I did some strides trying to zero in on what 10.2 MPH felt like.

As the start of the race drew near we all lined up. At the gun a large group of individuals took off pretty hard. I stayed with them letting Ryan and a few others start to pull away. At about the 1/4 mile mark I checked the Garmin and we were at nearly 11 MPH – way ahead of my pace. I thought "crap I am going to finish a whole lot worse than 4th or 5th place." I slowed a bit trying to zero in on my 10.2 MPH. Part of the group was pulling away but as we neared the 3/4 mile point a big part of them faded hard and I easily caught and passed them. I could still see Ryan and the other leaders even though it was a course with lots of turns. I settled in with the chase group and tried to find my stride. At about the 1 mile mark it felt a bit slow so I checked my Garmin and we were at 9.7 MPH – way to slow.

I started to slide to the side to pass the group but a guy slid over in front of me each time I tried. Since we had picked up the pace a bit to 10 MPH I though I would tuck in very close behind him literally on his heals to where I had to match his cadence and stride or I would hit his feet. I knew he would get sick of that eventually and by 1.25 miles he let me go and I pushed it and left them all in my dust.

As we neared 1.75 miles I knew I would now have to do a gut check – I felt like I was at my fastest 5K race ever and was thinking about how I would hold on to this pace. At about 2.25 miles I stared to look ahead and see if I could catch the guy in front of me. He seemed pretty out of reach he had what I tried to count as about a 40 second lead on me. I looked back and saw that I had a pretty large lead on anyone else. I was in no-man’s land. I hate being in this position. No real chance of passing the guy in front of me and a nearly impossible lead to lose a position from the guy behind me.

I had nothing to push me except my determination to go after a PR – my Garmin is set up a bit different as it a a newer one to me and I didn’t know what my overall time was at this point. So I didn’t know if I had a shot at a PR or not.

Ryan and I had ran part of the finish as our warm-up so we knew where to start the finishing drive and final kick. As I approached the 2nd to last turn I noticed I had been closing the gap on the guy in front of me but still had no chance to pass him unless he had a catastrophic issue. Into that 2nd to last turn I started to push it a bit more my breathing was labored but not out of control. I built speed towards that final turn and once I completed that final turn I started to push very hard giving my final kick.

My eyes aren’t 20/20 so I couldn’t read the clock until I got pretty close – I saw it showing 18:13 and was excited. I knew I would get a good new PR but still remembered to run through the finish line and not to it. Had no idea what my final time was – I just knew that it was good.

After a good cool down with Ryan of just over 2 miles – we got back just in time for the awards. A guy named Adam walked up to us and we found out that Ryan was 3rd overall (Adam 4th) and I managed 5th overall. Not bad. It took a while to get to my old man’s age group and was pleased with an age-group win. Second in my age group was one minute 16 seconds behind me. That is an easy age group win. I had narrowed the gap between myself and 4th place to 23 seconds (still a ton) and managed to hold the lead on 6th place to 47 seconds.

Overall a great race but I made a few mistakes. I could have cut all of the tangents a bit better and could have pushed a tiny but more. I usually want to fall to the ground at the end of a race but I didn’t this time. That will have to corrected for my next 5K in early June.

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

Last year, I was looking for a local 5K to shake up the legs and get my running back into a rhythm after a vacation. I found a 5K relatively close to home at just the right time. It happened to be in its first year but I wasn’t really concerned about anything other than getting in a hard effort in a race day atmosphere. So I did it.

While the people were good, I didn’t have a whole lot of interest in returning to the event. The people seemed to care but the event was nothing special. Then, this year in searching for a tune up effort before a planned trip to Brown Deer for the Deer Run 5K, I discovered that this race, two weeks before the Deer Run, had moved to a location that was less than 5 miles from my home. So here I was again.

This year, I didn’t need to get back into a rhythm. I just finished up a very solid base phase and was transitioning a bit more to race prep type work. This was actually not the ideal time for a race as I was in my first week fully focused on that race prep work. Not a cutback week, plus there are always things that don’t feel right when in the first week of a new training focus. That said, it was a good week for tuning up for the Deer Run. Plenty of time to recover from a 5K but not so much time that I will have forgotten how a 5K is supposed to feel.

So I was back. Not fully rested, on a day that was warmer than we recently had seen. Not the variables for a great race but I wasn’t looking for that. I was looking for a solid effort and not worrying myself about time. I expected to be in the mid-17s if I ran well but wasn’t too concerned about the time. It was more about a good effort.

After registering, I reviewed the course map. Pretty simple. 3 laps around a 1+ mile loop around the county fairgrounds. Mostly flat, a few hard turns but mostly a semicircle around the parking lots. My only real concern was how traffic control would be. Would a clear path be given to runners as we began lapping walkers?

I warmed up over the course, which allowed me to confirm that the loop was a little over a mile and seemed generally to have a good flow. A couple hard turns early and a few late but, otherwise, this had the potential to be a fast course.

At the start of the race, the instructions were given more than once that there were cones down the middle of the road throughout the course. Runners were to stay to the left of the cones, walkers to the right. This left me a little relieved. They had a clear plan to control traffic and avoid issues.

As the race started, I went straight to the lead. I had talked to a couple runners before the race and their goals were in the 20+ minute range. I didn’t see anyone else who looked like sure fire serious competition and I recall winning by a significant margin last year. So this wasn’t a real surprise. What was a surprise was that I could sense more than one runner going with me, not just for the first 100 yards but for at least close to 1/4 mile. I wasn’t sure if they were going out fast or I was going out slow, though I definitely didn’t feel like I was going out slow. Pretty soon, though, I found myself alone, hugging the cones on the left side of the road. Late in the first lap, I turned back into the park, went around those few hard turns, then was passing through the start/finish area.

Then, into lap 2. This was when things would get interesting. How good would enforcement of the "runners left, walkers right" rule be?

It didn’t take long to find out. Early in the second lap, I started seeing packs of walkers strung out across the road. I weaved through as best as I could and, in a few instances when there was simply nowhere to go, wedged my way through the biggest gaps I could find. I’d like to say I called out but, honestly, I was halfway through a 5K. To say my breathing was labored would be an understatement. The best I could do was grunt out some kind of audible alert but the walkers weren’t taking the best hint I could offer that I was coming through.

Unfortunately, I let this working through the walkers get into my head more than I should have. I’m disappointed in myself for that. I should have remained tough and kept pushing but I didn’t. I was still pushing but not redlining the way a well-run 5K requires.

Eventually, the crowds started thinning out a bit and it was easier to work through without too much problem. However, I already let the circumstances get in my head and I wasn’t prepared to get back to redlining. I pushed as hard as I could convince myself to but I definitely didn’t have that 5K edge.

In the third lap, the situation started changing a little. Now, the walkers were thinning out but I was encountering lapped runners. They were easier to work around, though. The walkers were staying to their side better and the runners were at most two or three wide, so there was room to pass with minimal, if any, trouble.

Unfortunately, there was one more logistical problem. The finish was on the right side. I’d have to cross the walkers lane to get to it. Fortunately, there was a gap when I needed to go so I could do so without problem, even managing a bit of a kick as I finished in 17:43.

All things considered, I’m good with this result. Fitness wise, I know that with more rest and better focus on my race execution, I’m probably in low-17 shape already. If the stars align for the Deer Run, I could possibly even make a run at a sub-17.

To her credit, the race director was very receptive to my suggestions for race improvements. I tried to make it clear that I was trying to offer suggestions to make the event better and not give her a hard time but I knew my comments could easily be taken as criticism. I had two suggestions. First, runners on the right so we have a clear path to the finish line. Second, have course sentries enforce or at least remind people of the rules of the road (runners right, walkers left next year if my first suggestion is followed) on the course. This would make the event both better for runners and safer for everyone involved as I was truly concerned at points about hurting someone.

All said, this event has a lot of potential. It’s clear the race director does care deeply about creating a good experience for both runners and walkers. The course is actually spectator friendly, unlike so many road races, and it has the potential to be a fast course with more fan support than most local road races can offer. I have a feeling I’ll be back, especially since it’s so close to home.