Race Recap: Dairyville, USA Orchard Festival 5k

Dairyville, USA Orchard Festival 5k 3.14 mi 00:21 06:33 pace

My goal coming into this race was to be faster than 21:00 It's a goal I've had since March, when I had a crappy weather 5k, and April where I had 2 5ks that were poorly measured courses. I figured this course would be pretty accurate because race directors are big time ultra runners in the area.

BrookLynn, Bradley and Raegan before the start of their race

I started with a 1-mile warmup that was very easy, but enough to get loose. My feet felt good, and have felt good the last few days. I figured I'd be able to be fast, but haven't really trained much in the last 2 weeks post-half. The kids all ran the "Youth Mile" race and did great. All 3 of them PR'd! Milkshakes all around!

The super fast kids were running today, a couple sub-16 5kers there. I set out to run my race and pace at least 6:45 per mile. The "Go!" was shouted and off we went. I felt good, tried to just let those guys go. About a half mile, I looked down to see 5:49 on my average pace on Garmy. Better slow down! I backed off, the lead group kept distancing and I tried to settle into my race. The first mile ticked off at 6:20, not too fast, considering it's only a 5k. I was mostly running by myself, but there was 1 lone duck (let's call him Juan) sitting out there 100 yards away. My goal was to just reel him in.

By the time mile 2 ticked off (6:47, still ahead of goal), "Juan" was only 10 yards in front of me, and by 2.3 miles I overtook him. There was nobody in front of me now. The fast kids were probably done and my thought was just maintain pace, and don't get passed by "Juan." The turn to the home straight is nice, once you're there, you can see the finish in the distance, and it's only slightly more than half mile away. All of a sudden I could feel someone closing in on me, a female who passed me like I was standing still. Yikes!

The finish

Coming into the finish I put on a kick, but could only do so much because the left foot pain I've had since 10 miles into the half was back again (It's at the in-step, arch, and tender to touch...) I ran through the line and stopped my watch with a 20:38 time.

I'm happy to have beaten my goal ( by 22 seconds no less) and now I have another goal for future 5k's (sub-20)

Props to Tim, Michelle, Eric and Sherri who ran the 10k. Great job guys and gals!

Splits: 6:20 - 6:47 - 6:36 - 6:25 (final .14)

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/121791593