The race took place on a Formula 1 type race track (think twisty). It was about 1 hour outside of Chicago. I went with 6 other people from my Lululemon run group. They're great people and we had a lot of fun.
I did a 2 mile warm up, some drills, and some sprints. I was feeling good. And for weeks I had been confident leading up to the race. It was 50 degrees at the start, which was surprisingly warm for the season. But it was so damn windy... 22 mph according to the internet.
The gun went off and 4-5 guys jumped out to the lead. They were kids! High schoolers. So little, but so damn fast. I let them go, and just tried to find my rhythm. I was looking for quarter miles of 1:30 but I hit the first .25 in 1:20, so I eased off.
I was surprised that I started breathing heavily and feeling fatigued shortly before I reached the 1st mile marker. It seemed too early for that. But the first mile came out to 6:00 and I thought, "OK, I can probably hang onto this". But I wrong. The wind during all of mile 2 was BRUTAL. It wasn't gusts of wind, it was a steady stream of intense wind.
At the halfway point I was feeling some intense fatigue. My breathing was so labored and I had to fight to hold onto a pace that was already slower. It was a real struggle and it hurt badly. The 2nd mile came out at 6:23. This was a big blow, and really frustrating. But I kept fighting, and I started to make a push in the last mile.
The intensity was off the charts at this point, but I was able to run faster. The wind wasn't as bad in the 3rd mile. I closed the gap on a little booger up a head of me. This kid was as tall as my waist, but those little legs moved with quickness and fluidity. I passed him with a quarter mile to go. I talked to him and his dad after the race. He's 12 years old and finished in 19:10. Kid probably has a very bright future in the sport.
I kicked as hard as I could for the last 1:30 of the race, but it wasn't much because I was so exhausted. I knew 19:00 would be close. As I approached the finish line I watched the clock tick from 18:59 to 19:00 and I crossed the finish line in frustration.
Mile 1- 6:00
Mile 2- 6:23
Mile 3- 5:52
0.1- 0:48
FINISH- 19:05 (6:10 pace)
1st AG
5th OA
I'm pretty bummed about this race. I expected to do so much better. I'm not sure how I recently ran the last 5k of a 15k in 20:13, but could only muster 19:05 for 5k today. Maybe it just wasn't my day. Maybe it was the strong winds in mile 2. But I was so certain that I'd run well today.
It makes me question what I'm capable of. I love this distance, and I have dreams of becoming very fast at it. But today makes me question whether I have the genetic makeup and talent to take this where I wanna go. I may have to train my ass off just to run mediocre times.
This won't be a set back. I'll keep training and I'll do whatever I can to live up to my potential. But it's a potential which I'm now skeptical about.
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