East Windsor Memorial 5K

Last weekend I made the relatively short trek to CT for a visit with my mom and a road race, the East Windsor Veterans Day 5K.  I ran in this race last year, placing first for women and third overall, in a time of 17:48.  Going into this year, based off the workouts I was doing, I figured that if I ran 6:00 pace it would be a good race and another step in the right direction.  The weather was great and I had good company for the warm-up and cool-down, which always makes the race experience all that much better.

After the gun went off, I quickly found myself in second place (for women), with the first place woman about 10m ahead of me.  By the first mile mark she was probably 4-5 seconds ahead of me and I was bouyed by the fact that my split was 5:48-5:49 and I felt comfortable...especially since the only time I have moved at that pace or faster since May was some 200's earlier in the week.  I love how aerobic fitness trickles down...

Back to the race, I figured that if I was going to catch the leader, I needed to do it in the 2nd mile where there are a few small hills.  I set out to do so, but the gap did NOT diminish.  The last mile has a few small rolls the first half, but then a gradual downhill towards the finish.  At the 2 mile mark, the leader seemed to throw in a surge and I figured I wasn't going to be able to close it up, but in the same thought decided that I would at least try.  In the middle of the rollers, I caught up and decided I had to pass then, knowing full well it may be a bit early for me to try and hold on for the rest of the race.  But, I went for it and being in front, trying not to get caught, and having no idea of what was going on behind me helped me push to a 18:13, beating my "hoping for 6:00 pace" out of the water.  I thought I was being very realistic with my 6:00 pace attempt, so this was a pleasant suprise and a great boost.  Yeah, it was 25 seconds slower than last year, but I'm at a different point with my training now so making that comparison is fairly useless.  I will, however, make the comparison that at a road race about a month earlier I ran 20 seconds/mile (almost to a T) slower than the previous year and at this race I ran about 8 seconds/mile slower than last year.  Getting there...

Oh, and in the injury update, I wore flats for the first time since the spring too...they felt great and my achilles was totally cool. 

Shout out to my sister-in-law who set yet another PR this fall...taking about 30 seconds off her old 5K time.  She has PR'ed...and not just PR'ed, but HUGE PR's...in everything from 5K-1/2 marathon this fall.  She's in the Brooks ID program, so if you see a nightlife singlet coming at you, watch out!  And, a side perk to her running was I was able to play with my niece for a while before having lunch with my mom...a great day.

I have to start remembering to take a camera to races, so I can throw a few pictures up...