I was invited to join a running team a couple months ago. They're great people. I met them at the race, we did a 2 mile warm-up and lined up at the start. My plan was to go out around 6:50 pace and slowly drop down.
As always, I went out way too fast. I ran the first half mile in 3:10, so I backed off and let a lot of people run ahead. There was no "Mile 1" marker
but my watch showed 6:35 for the first mile. I eased off a little more and fell into a comfortable rhythm. By mile 2 I was at 13:47. The 5k runners turned off and suddenly there were only a few runners around me. I caught up with a pleasant guy named Christopher. We ran together for about a half mile before he had to drop back. Mile 3 came in at 6:47, perfect.But I noticed that the course was different than the course map online. And suddenly the mile markers didn't jive with my watch. When I crossed the Mile 4 marker my watch showed 4.09 and the split was 6:59. This annoyed me, as I was certain I was moving faster than that. I tried not to let it get to me, and kept pushing. I didn't like being alone and wished there were more runners around. I could see 2 or 3 runners ~100m ahead of me, and I had hoped to catch them by the end of the race.
The discomfort was pretty bad, but not horrible. I still felt strong and I could tell my training had been decent. I hit mile 5 in 7:00 and my watch showed 5.17 miles. I told myself, "whatever, 1.2 miles to go, I don't care about the course, I'm still gonna give it my all." With 1.2 miles to go I didn't know for sure, but thought the PR was still possible.
I was joined by one of my teammates who ran (and won) the 5k. She carried me along for a few minutes. I was able to surge really hard with her pacing me, it was awesome. I passed 2 of the 3 people I had in my sights. But my watch showed 38:30 and I was only half-way through mile 6. I knew I wasn't gonna get the PR. I told her that I wasn't gonna get it, and she dropped off to run with some other teammates.
But as soon as she dropped off another teammate came in and picked me up. Even though I didn't think the PR was possible I still wanted to finish strong. It was so great to have a teammate there helping me out. I passed that 3rd guy I had been after. When I saw mile marker 6 and my watch showed 41:15, any hope I had for the PR was gone. Still I felt good and had a big kick. I even dropped my teammate. There were a ton of slow 5k runners who were crossing the same finish line. Weaving between them while trying to kick was horrible. I will try to avoid future 5k/10k races because of this.
Mile 1&2- 13:47
Mile 3- 6:47
Mile 4- 6:59
Mile 5- 7:00
Mile 6- 6:31
0.2- 1:08
FINISH- 42:15
I felt mixed emotions when I crossed the line. I was disappointed in not PRing, and also annoyed by the long course (I hate using this as an excuse, but 4 other people's watches showed 6.3x miles). On the other hand, I felt like I ran strong. After years of disappointment, frustration and setback I am approaching a level of fitness I never thought I'd see again. That's the main thing I'm taking away from this race.
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