I am predominantly an endurance athlete, and so I typically race at an aerobic effort. Anaerobic efforts, like those you need during 5K racing, just hurt.  That was my race today; mostly just suffering until I got to the finish line.

I am happy with my 5K result today.  I am happy because I don’t think I could have done much better with what I had today.  My finish time was 22:13 which would have been a PR for a 5K race. Unfortunately the course was a little short; it was only 3 miles long.

My preparation for the race went exactly as planned.  I arrived at the start line nicely warmed up, and with only a few minutes to go before the race started.  I stripped off my non-race clothing and got ready to race.

The race started and I realized that I had lined up a little too far back.  I was running faster than everyone around me.  After about a quarter of a mile however, I had managed to get around the slower runners, and had settled into a pace that I thought I could hold.  I focused on relaxing and making long, effective strides.

Before long, I felt my watch buzz. I had completed the first mile. As I had planned, I chose to not look at my watch to see my pace. My internal systems felt good and I thought that my pace was probably right where I expected it to be. 

The next mile went quite well too.  I passed a few people and at the turn around, I could see that there were only about 25 racers ahead of me.  As my watch buzzed again, I realized that I was about two thirds of the way through my race. By now however, I was running at full effort.

My brain went into a mode of telling myself to maintain form and just keep moving forward.  I tried to hold form, but in the last half mile, I could feel myself starting to fade. My stride length was getting shorter and my lungs were burning.

It seemed like that last mile lasted forever. I was convinced that the finish line would be around the next bend. I thought that for about four bends in the trail. Eventually the finish line did appear, I got over the finish line, stopped and rested on a fence to get my breath back.

My mile splits were 7:15, 7:28 and 7:30.  My finish time was good enough for 5th place in the 50-59 age group. I am happy with that as a 59 year old.

Those mile splits were great, but I do feel like I have a faster 5K in me.  I think I will try another 5K race in the coming weeks.  Even though 5K racing is hard, it is also a lot of fun.