Run for Reading 5K Results

Last Friday afternoon I noticed there was a local 5K race in Mechanicsburg. The race was to be held the next morning at 8:30 am. I found the race on a great web site named http://www.runningintheusa.com which lists running races by state.

I had a terrible night's sleep Friday night. Not because I was nervous about the race, but due to kidney stone issues. Whenever I suffer from a kidney stone bout, the pain starts as a general thoracic pain and become more acute over time. The statistical bell curve is an accurate representation of the pain. Fortunately the pain never escalated into an acute pain.

In any event, I awoke Saturday morning not particularly refreshed and still sore from my 15K run on Thursday. I had decided I wanted to set a 4:48 minute per kilometer pace in order to break twenty four minutes for the 5K. My previous recorded 5K PR was 24:50.

This course had a unique layout, almost barbell shaped. There were two loops, each around a separate small playground / park joined by a road connecting the loops. It was very flat except for mile two, which had a gradual incline.

This was the first race where I ran with my new racing shoes, Mizuno Ronin 2's. They have excellent traction on the road surface and are very form fitting. Because they are a very bright orange, I did get a glance or two at my shoes.

The event was well organized, from registration to the course markings. In a twist of irony, the bib number I was assigned was number 448. This was the pace per km I had determined I wanted to accomplish before I had arrived at the race. 4:48 per kilometer for five kilometers equates to a 24:00 even finish time. It was sunny and there looked to be about 125-150 participants.

I had my Garmin Forerunner watch set up to display three data fields; last lap pace, overall pace and race length. I purposely omitted the race time because I wanted to maintain a pace as opposed to shooting for a time. If I met each of my pace goals by kilometer, my overall time goal would naturally follow.

I prefer running by kilometer instead of by mile. The reason is since the kilometer is smaller than the mile, I get pace 'report cards' from my watch much more frequently and can make the appropriate adjustments.

Here were my five kilometer splits - 4:48 minutes per km was my goal

Km 1 - 4:24
Km 2 - 4:35
Km 3 - 4:53
Km 4 - 4:48
Km 5 - 4:38

Overall avg pace - 4:40 per km
I hit my pace goal on four of five kilometers.

The mile splits were
Mile 1 - 7:09
Mile 2 - 7:51
Mile 3 - 7:37

Overall avg pace - 7:31 per mile

By my watch I finished in 23 minutes and 20 seconds. The official race results will be posted on http://www.cumberlandcountylibraries.org/index.aspx?nid=92 in about a week.

The third kilometer was primarily uphill and I knew I was losing ground on my pace throughout this segment. My typical race 5K pattern is to run out gas for the fourth and fifth kilometers. This race was atypical in that I had a 5K gas tank, complete with a small 100 -200 yard kick at the end of the race.

I would attribute my performance to my recent long distance runs and beginning a strength training regimen centered upon my core muscles of abs, back and hips. As much as i would like to believe the shoes were a driving force, I do not believe they contributed much to my efforts. They were comfortable, light, and had excellent traction but these features do not compensate for training.

Addendum: Each of my new racing shoes weigh four ounces less than my training counterparts. This eight ounce or half pound savings may add up over the course of a race. If you have ever used a seven ounce tack hammer and a sixteen ounce regular hammer you know there's a substantial difference in the feel of the two hammers.