6:20 – wake up
6:30 – eating oatmeal, waiting for coffee to brew
6:45 – ah! coffee’s ready
7:30 – start my drive to Nazareth
8:05 – head out for a 2 mile warm up

9:00 – So, there I was, toeing the line along with 219 other racers. I swear, the entire Nazareth Cross Country team was in front of me. Sun shining, 66* out and 57% relative humidity. In other words, a perfect scenario. I’ve got pacers in front of me, undulating neighborhood streets to run on and race day nerves like you wouldn’t believe. I stood there and calmed myself down, “it’s just a short little race”, I tell myself. No big deal.

There was a bit of confusion and quite a cluster at the start. I weaved my way through the crowd and got in front of several people who lined up a little too far in the front. No problem. But then I look down at my Garmin – 5:34. “There’s something wrong with the watch,” I tell myself, there is just no way! Ran a few more house lengths, watch is still reading a pace in the 5 range. I slow down, that’s completely unsustainable for me, I’m going to kill myself in the end if I keep this up. I look ahead and see that huge group of high school kids in front of me as well as several other people. “Race in your head”, I tell myself. This is just for me, I don’t care about anyone else right now. Thing is, those race nerves had taken a hold of me and I honestly don’t even remember breathing. No pain. Nothing. Finally, I hit mile 1 – 6:44. Shit! That is way faster than I was expecting. A couple of weeks ago I spoke with my coach and decided to go out with a 7:25 pace and then try to run an even race. After last Wednesday’s track workout my coach emailed me and said, “I think you should feel confident going out in 7:15-18 pace.” So, this was my new goal, shoot for a 7:15 first mile and then just see what happens. When I spoke to Coach C last night I said I was just going to run the first mile in whatever and then hold on, whatever happens, happens. So, 6:44, I’ll say it again, holy shit!

Still feeling good but wondering what exactly that first mile is going to do to me at the end of this race, I slow down a little. I continually checked my breathing: steady, even, not breathing too hard. I checked my form and arms: arm swing is good, down by my hips, swinging hard on the upgrades. Quick foot turnover, nothing strenuous. Still feeling really good. Should I be pushing harder? One of the last bits of advice I received from my coach was this: it’s suppose to feel hard. So, I kept asking myself, “is this hard?”

Mile 2 done, 7:21 split. Nice! I thought I was going to hit this point in 15 minutes, here I was hitting it in 14:07. Again, “is this hard?” Up to this point, and in retrospect, no, it wasn’t. Not yet, anyway. “One more mile and a sprint”, I tell myself. The third mile, well, I slowed down a bunch. All of a sudden the quiet, slightly undulating neighborhood roads had some hills. Looking over the elevation profile, it was only a 23 foot incline. That’s nothing compared to the rolling I hills I normally run on a daily basis. But, this was a flat course and I was running faster than I ever expected, mile one had already taken it’s toll. Third mile had a 7:51 split. That was terribly disappointing. I KNOW I could have run stronger in that last mile.

Now I was turning the corner and heading straight toward the finish line. Only .10 mile to go. I flew in that last 1/1oth mile – 6:53 pace. See, I knew I could have run that last mile harder. How else could I possibly pull out such a fast sprint to the finish line?

Final Time: 23:02

Course: measured long – 3.15

Split Times:
Mile 1 – 6:44
Mile 2 – 7:21
Mile 3 – 7:51
Mile 3.1 – 1:06

Overall: 73/220 (33.1%)
Age Group: 1/not sure how many total were in my age group

Yes, I got 1st in my age group. That’s a first for me. I received a trophy and gift certificate to my local running store.

Seriously, I am going to try to find another 5k that fits somewhere in my schedule and attempt a sub-23:00 this Fall. Who said racing is addicting?

Nazareth Blue Eagle 5k