Labor Day morning was an excellent time to run. No humidity and the temperature was in the mid 50's. Perfect conditions for a race. This race was headquartered at the Sovereign Bank Stadium - home of the York Revolution baseball team. (They are not affiliated with a Major League Baseball team)
I arrived at the stadium about a half hour before the scheduled 8:30am race start. There appeared to be well over 200 runners for this race - a decent turnout for a holiday race. Mentally I was a little flat for this race. I had begun to question why I am putting myself through these physical stresses to run what amounts to be fun runs.
While I was warming up for the race I noticed a runner in my age bracket named Bill Chambers. He finished second last year at this race and a photo with him receiving an award was displayed on the race website at http://qbclubofyork.wikispaces.com. I was surprised to see he was all but 120 pounds and 5' 7" inches tall - a veritable munchkin, albeit a very fast one. I have noticed elite runners are on the smallish side of the fence.
I felt the course was a very fair one. The course may have produced a number of 5K personal records, but mine was not to be one of them. I subjected myself to a fair amount of mental anguish as I ran this race. Instead of trailing about 30 runners throughout the race, it appeared I was trailing about 60 or 70 runners. Maybe there were a better lot of runners this year, but my position served to drain my confidence throughout the race. I tried to keep my focus on maintaining my predetermined pace - but I was not very successful.
I ran the first mile in seven minutes even. This is the slowest (best pace) I have run the first mile of a 5K this year. If I could have kept this pace for two more miles I would have set a new personal record. The second mie of this race was the toughest as it began with a moderate hill climb - although it ended in the same hill's descent.. I finished the second mile in 7:12.
I always have issues with running between the 2.5 and 3.0 mile points in a 5K race. I have either nothing left by the 2.5 mile point or I am conserving energy and running at a slower pace during this time in an effort to have a fast sprint to the finish line. In this race I ran the segment between the 2.5 and 2.75 mile markers at a 7:34 pace - well off my goal of 7:00 (seven minutes) per mile pace. My third mile time was a disappointing 7:20 split. I did have something for the end of the race - finishing the last tenth of a mile at a 6:50 pace.
At the very end of the race with about 30 yards remaining to the finish line I heard someone behind me approaching quickly who had heavy footsteps and was panting heavily. I quickly shifted into a gear I didn't even know I had at this point of the race and high-tailed it into the finish. I was able to stave off this runner. I don't look around at the end of a race to see if anyone is behind me, because I am not concerned. Lesson to this spurned runner - if you are going to pass someone with 30 yards to go in the race, then don't make a Hollywood production of the pass with the exaggerated breathing, Rocky-esque growls and pronounced sneaker stomping.
My final time was unofficially 22:12, very nearly the exact time of my last 5K race. I am going to hang up my cleats this year with respect to 5K races. My official 2010 5K personal record time will be etched in stone as 21:37. I was disappointed in my time, but truly grateful for being blessed with the abilities I have - even if they are not stellar.
I had a great time at this race and would love to run it again next year.
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