Finally! I have chased a sub-25 minute
5k for a year. I’ve run four 5k’s between 25:19 and 25:35 in the last year, including a 25:26 last week on a sand
beach that I thought might have been sub-25 if it had been on the roads and a strong headwind had been lighter. Today, the
conditions were right and I got it.
The race was sponsored by the Pass-A-Grille
Women’s Club to raise funds for a home for young women. Pass-A-Grille is the section of St Pete Beach where we are spending
the winter this year. The course was run on streets where I run every day. The start/finish line was on the street directly
in front of my house.....literally 25 feet from my front door.....where I start all of my training runs. In fact, the first
mile of the race (and two other half mile segments) covered street blocks where I have been doing estimated 440/880 intervals
every week. According to the race’s “official” one mile marker, my estimate of the first mile of my training
runs, which I determined based on my pace, is long by about 6 feet….how’s that for being in touch with your pace?
J
I was well rested for this race, since
I had only run one other time this week, an easy 6 miles Tuesday, due to an unplanned 3-day trip to Mississippi for a funeral.
The course was one mile out, a one mile loop, and 1.1 miles back. All on streets that parallel the beach on one side of the
narrow island and Boca Ciega Bay on the other. The field was very small. About 100-150 people. The weather was good. Mid-50's.
Low humidity. A brisk wind of about 15 mph was a factor, especially during for the first half of the second and third miles.
The sky was cloudless with a brilliant sun. Surf was rolling in on the beach pushed by the wind. It was a beautiful day for
a race.
Good conditions. Perfectly flat course.
Very familiar with every foot of the route. Tapered. It had to happen for me today.....and it did.
I didn’t run a pretty race.
Huge positive splits. The first mile was much too fast at 7:33, although it didn’t feel bad because of my 5 day taper.
It was the fastest non-downhill mile I’ve run in 9 years. Second mile split was 8:00 flat, which was my target for the
race. My split for the last 1.1069 miles was 9:15 (8:22 pace) for a total time of 24:48 and an average pace of 7:59. I won
3rd place in my age bracket, but there weren’t many in my age bracket, or any other one, today. J
My time was a PR for my second running
life by 31 seconds. Enough of an improvement that I checked with the race director after the race about the accuracy of the
course, especially the first mile where my split was faster than it felt. He assured me that it was accurate and certified.
Grandpa Charlie stopped by to say
hello and run the race on his way from Maryland to a vacation spot on Sanibel Island, about 2 hours south
of here. I’ll let him report his race after he gets back home. But, I will say that he was happy with his race, too.
J Granny Jean wasn’t feeling well due to a cold and didn’t run the race. We all went to
breakfast after the race.
