Autobahn 5k

My goal for this race was to PR (19:02). I felt confident I could do that. In fact, I thought I'd blow 19:02 out of the water. I thought 18:30 was possible.  I also thought I had a chance to win this race. The winning times for the past three years were 19:02, 20:03 and 18:53.

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.

Hot Chocolate 15k

I didn't have any real goals for this race. I've been struggling a bit in the last 3 weeks. I hadn't felt great on most of my runs, and I was generally lacking confidence. I thought 1:07 was realistic, and 1:05 would be possible but it would be a stretch (and only possible if I was feeling great). I left my watch at home, and I reminded myself that there was no pressure for this race.

I showed up early and made sure I got to the front of the corral (there was so much riff-raff at this race). When the gun went off I felt just OK. In fact, I was doubtful that it was gonna be a good race. My legs seemed heavy and I thought I felt mediocre at best. But when I saw that the first mile came out to 6:50, it was a pleasant surprise. Maybe I was feeling better than I thought. Still, the pace seemed a little too fast, and I eased off a bit.

I left my watch at home. I've never done anything like this before. Hell, I won't go for a 3 mile training run without my watch. But I wanted to take the pressure off myself, and just run based on how I was feeling. I still paid attention to the clocks on the mile markers and I knew I was doing about 6:50-6:55 pace.

I hit the 5k mark at 21:13. I settled into a nice rhythm, and just relaxed. I regained some confidence and composure. Despite the 45,000 runners in this race, there were very few runners around me. I found myself really wanting someone to run with, but it didn't matter much, I was feeling good.

Between 5k and 10k I held onto a steady pace. These middle miles were quick. I was moving at a good pace, but didn't really feel like it was taxing me too badly. It excited me that I was this far in the race and the pace had such little impact on me. I crossed 10k at 42:15. Any doubt I had over the last 3 weeks was gone.

At 10k I was ready to make a move. I slowly started to push the pace. With 2 miles to go I still felt so damn good. I picked up the pace in a big way. As I passed small groups of people I ran next to the person who looked the strongest. I tried to get them to push harder with me, but they weren't up for it. This happened 3 times with 3 different people. I would have liked to find someone to push me to a faster finish.

The last mile felt similar to my last mile in recent successful races- full of piss and vinegar. It was so exhilarating to feel that strong at the end of the race. If I had to guess I'd say the last mile was between 6:10-6:20.

5k- 21:13
10k- 42:15
FINISH- 1:02:40 (6:44 pace)

105 OA
15 AG
12 minute PR

I am so surprised by the result of this race. It really helped me regain some confidence. I'm excited to train hard this winter.