The only other time I have raced a 5 miler was four years ago (also the Turkey Trot) and that race was at an 8:20 overall pace. A few weeks ago during a Tuesday Tempo run I ran the 5 mile tempo portion at an 8:19 pace (1 mile warm up/drills and 1 mile cooldown for 7 miles total), so I knew I had a great shot at a big PR. I decided to make my goal a sub-8 pace. The last time I raced a sub-8 pace for a short race was a 5k in February, when I ran 7:56 average.
Coming into the race, I had not done any speedwork in a week (since my Yasso 800s...which were at an average time of 3:45...yay!), and five days prior had run my 22 miler. Monday and Tuesday easy runs were my other workouts of the week. Basically, I went into this race with rested legs for the first time in a long time. Plus, it was 32 degrees out at race start. Finally (after yet another 75 degree 22 miler) I got great race weather!!
My husband ran with me and I love it when he does because he's so good at maintaining my goal pace and will run ahead of me if he thinks I'm slipping in my pace. One of my running friends, Esther, was running this race as well and she and I are very evenly matched on pace (unless you get her on trails and then she's completely untouchable!), so it would be a good battle, plus we would push each other to hit our goals. Our turkey trot is a little unique with the timing. Rather than purchase official timing, our race director chooses to take that money and give it directly to the local charities he supports, so it's an untimed event. However, he color codes the bibs so he can still figure out who finishes top 3 for the age groups. No official timing, but still age group awards, based on gun time, and a bigger cut to charity is a pretty awesome thing to do. Anyway, the age groups were actually 20 year spreads and with 800 runners, not likely to get an award but Esther and I still wanted to start up front to give ourselves the best chance as possible because you just never know!
Starting up front was definitely the right thing to do because we didn't find ourselves stuck behind anyone and weren't really being passed by too many people in that first mile. The streets were nice and wide and there was plenty of room to race. I wanted to hit that first mile in about 8:20 and then dial it back to just under 8:00 pace, and then kick it up in that last mile. I felt so good as soon as we started and was surprised to see I was actually running a 7:50 pace. Even 3/4 of the way into that first mile it wasn't a tough pace for me to hold so I decided to not really slow down. Mile 1 came in at 7:53. Greg admitted he was a little worried that I had started off too fast and would blow up, but I told him I was going to try to hold that pace for as long as possible and was confident because it felt just fine. Hard, but not so hard that I couldn't run that for another 4 miles.
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| I see me and Greg |
There are a few little hills on the course, but nothing that would slow you down, with good downhills to make up for them. Miles 2-4 came in at 7:48, 7:47, 7:48. Very consistent pacing and I still felt pretty damn strong. I was beyond thrilled that I had been able to give myself so much banked time to hit my goal, but I still wanted to speed up in that last mile. My heartrate didn't get into the 160's until Mile 3, so I felt like I was controlling my body's response to the faster pace very well.
With about a half mile to go, and making the last two turns on the course, I pushed my pace as good as I could. The last couple minutes were painful, I can't lie. There was a lady that I was certain was in my age group staying right in front of me, so I decided to try and pass her and unfortunately for me, it was a bit too soon and I gave her enough time to pass me at the finish as her kick was stronger than mine. Didn't end up mattering because neither of us were quite fast enough for an age group award. I fully expected Esther to blow by me in that last mile, but she finished about 40 seconds behind me, a PR for her as well. Just like I expected, we pushed each other and in return we both had the races we wanted!
The course was about 200 meters short, and I finished in 37:57 at a 7:45 average. Mile 5 was at 7:31 pace! I can't call it an "official" 5 mile PR but it's definitely the longest I've maintained a sub-8:00 pace ever. Had it been a certified 5 miler I would have finished in about 38:45. I can't begin to say how thrilled this kind of time makes me feel.
I'm so glad that I decided to race this. I was in a good position to run well, to shake my demons out one last time, and to finish out the rest of my marathon taper with really good thoughts in my head. Running 7:45 average for 5 miles was not nearly as hard as I expected it could be, so to add over a minute per mile to that pace and hold it for 26.2 seems very doable to me. So far the weather in Biloxi is looking great for the marathon. I will have rested legs and I'm at my best shape ever. My confidence is as good as it's going to get and I'm very happy.
My team did so well at this race. We had close to 20 runners between the 5 miler and the 1 miler and many of us hit our best paces ever. We pushed each other to do well and had a great time together in the process. I couldn't be more proud of them all.
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