Joe Allen ran the Wellsburg 4th of July 5K and finished with a time of 30:36.
I’m recovering from having Lyme’s disease and since I’d signed up for the race thought I’d give it a shot just to see how much I’ve lost in the past two weeks. The course is in the full sun and it was humid but I was able to keep trudging along. My goal was to finish and I did.
Eric Paradis ran the Bethel 8k and finished this distance in the time of 48:00.
So humid this morning! It was raining pretty hard when I got there, but stopped for the race. The humidity hung around at 80% though. Nice course, they had extra water stations out there too. Tried to manage my pace at the start with some friends from the running club, but had to back down. Hung in there with my pace for the first three miles. Hills were not too bad until the final two at mile 4.4 and 4.5. I think the humidity did me in more than the hills. Able to finish the last .25 at a 9:00 pace though.
Jason Lakes ran the July 4th Freedom Run 5k with a finishing time of 21:27.
Of the 5K’s I have raced, this is the slowest I have run, so I am disappointed in that result. I feel like this is probably a combination of the heat today as well as I have not gotten back to the same level of fitness I had last summer and through Boston this year. The positive is I have a lot to build on and work toward. The bad news is, mentally, its disappointing to have my worst time. I kept telling myself I was going to go sub 19 (which obviously did not happen), but that was how I kept myself mentally engaged through the race.
Secondly, I ran this with positive splits – which was disappointing. I felt like I was increasing the effort, but the paces kept slowing down. The last negative was I still did not get close enough to the front, so I spent the first 600-800 meters weaving a bit and slowing/speeding up to work my way through the crowd.
On the positive side, I did what I could do on the day and made sure to smile at the halfway point and to smile as much as possible – and definitely at the end. I was also able to pick off several other runners through the first two miles. After 3-3,500 meters, I ended up between two groups and was running by myself.
I am also proud I stayed engaged as I knew sub 19 and soon sub 20 was not happening. I saw another runner who went out too fast walking around 4 K and that was awfully tempting, but I did not allow myself that luxury – I was going to run sub something and I was going to have no regrets when I finished the race.
And, lastly, I finished 2nd in AG for the race with a field of nearly 1,100 runners. I ran 19:30 at this race last year, but something changed this year as last year, at 19:30, I finished 3rd in my AG with 700 runners total. This year, with 400 more runners, the winner of my AG was at 21:26 – so I was 1 to 2 seconds from winning my AG with a time nearly two minutes slower. So, I am trying to grade myself on a curve.
Overall, it was a great day as I GOT TO race and see where I am. I have a lot of room to gain fitness before Chicago and I am getting more heat and humidity acclimated every day. Obviously, I wish the time was better, but its where I was on the day, and it seems competitive with my AG, so I have to take that for now.
Today, I am grateful for the volunteers at the race. Normally, I would not take water on a 5K, but I did today and poured it on my head to try to stay cool. Thanks for them being out there in the heat.
Bob Ferguson ran the Firecracker 5K, finishing this distance in the time of 25:30.
A pretty good day with maybe a mixed result. Good news, my 5K time improved almost exactly 1 minute from last year (w/8:10 pace vs. 8:22 last year). Bad news, my time was slower than my goal time as I was hoping to get back under 8:00 pace. Race conditions were hot, sunny and very humid (80%) although with the plus that the course was flat. But I think today was more on me than the race conditions as I started off at a 7:45 – 7:50 pace but couldn’t hold it, after the 1.5 to 2 mile mark. But my time improved and, so far this year, my mile, 5K and HM times have all improved by pretty good margins. So, continuous running improvement – especially at my age (62) – I’ll take that with a smile every time! On to the next training cycle…
Thanks Coaches! The plans are working and I appreciate your expert help. Looking forward to the next plan.
Ellen Harte ran the Fox Valley Marathon (5k) and finished this race in the time of 36:10.
Not anywhere close to my best time (or even my average time) but I got 3rd place in my age group anyway!!
