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October 10, 2007
Cedar Perk Five Miler 2007
Well, “Dad,” funny you should ask about that race. I’d just typed up my race report, and it goes a little something like this:
Cedar Perk Five Miler 2007: I had done this five-miler in 1998 and really enjoyed it. I think it was the first race I won my age group in. I won a coffee mug with a metal plaque on it that my mother-in-law zapped in the microwave recently. It’s ok, though. I still love that mug, even though now I’m the only one who knows that it’s supposed to say “1st place” on it. There’s still a metal plate, but it’s fried.
Of course my running felt awful before the race. I feel awful before the vast majority of races and tempos and track workouts. Many times how bad I feel beforehand and how well I run are inversely proportional. I did a 3.5 mile warmup, came back to the start and changed my shoes, found out that the race started a half hour later than I thought it did, changed my shoes again and headed back out for another two miles.
Even though this was a small race, it generally attracts some pretty fast people who live up in the Cedar Park area. The town has a phenomenal track and cross-country culture, and there were a lot of kids out for the race. I figured that most of the junior high kids would beat me! I also saw a woman I know to be faster than me, another woman I *can* but don’t necessarily beat when I’m in good shape, and another woman who’s very fast whom I knew had been out injured for a lot of the summer.
I started out fast, but noticed once the crowd thinned a little that I was pretty far behind all of the women I mentioned. That happens to me pretty regularly in races with people I generally finish with. I feel like I’m going so slow and there’s no way I’m going to be able to catch them. And then all of a sudden I was right behind them – they were all together – and I didn’t feel like I’d really picked it up at all. The boyfriend of the woman who was injured said “I think you’re going to be the first woman in a few minutes.” And I was. And I felt pretty comfortable, although passing them made me question whether I was going too fast.
So I was out in front just before the one mile marker, which I hit just over seven minutes. And then I just tried to maintain that pace, thinking the whole while that I didn’t want to pick it up and then die and have them all pass me back. That would be totally embarrassing. And I spent the remaining four miles anticipating that at least one of them would pick up the pace and be breathing down my neck. So I wanted to be ready to put up a fight. I really still don’t have (and never really do have) any kind of kick, so I wanted to be as relaxed as possible when and if I was caught so that I had something left to fight with. But there was never a challenge.
I ended up finishing at 33:31, or 6:42-ish pace. At least, that was the time on my watch; the posted results give me a 33:40 finish time with no lag time between gun and chip, but that can’t be right because I was several rows back. I had wanted to go under 7:00 pace, so I was happy with it. It’s another sign of progress. It’s still not overall progress, though: I don’t run many five-milers, so the fact that it was a p.r. (my 1998 time: 34:39) really doesn’t mean much - it’s slower than my 10K p.r. pace and only five seconds or so per-mile slower than my half-marathon p.r. pace. McMillan predicts a 3:18 marathon from that race, which would be my third fastest marathon, and not the fastest, like I’m shooting for. It’s better than the 3:31 marathon predicted from my half marathon in July, though!
After the race I headed back out on the course for a long cooldown, and since the race is an out-and-back course, several people who were still running had seen me leading at the half. So I got a lot of “did you win?” and I got to answer “yes!” and I got some high-fives. Man, that felt awesome.
Posted by jenandmats at October 10, 2007 6:56 PM
Comments
Awesome race and congrats on a PR!! Sounds like things are coming along very nicely for you. I think you are going to surprise yourself in your marathon!
Posted by: Beth at October 10, 2007 8:19 PM
Awesome job Jen! Did you get another mug?
Posted by: hokgardner at October 11, 2007 8:01 AM
Hi Jenandmats,
How fast can you run a 10k this year? If you need help e-mail me.
Joe Carnegie
Genesissub2.com
Posted by: Joe Carnegie at October 12, 2007 5:40 PM
Congrats on the PR and the win!
Little by little, you're chiseling your way into good fitness, you know? That's awesome, and it's been so fun to watch!
Onward and upward...
Posted by: Meghan at October 12, 2007 7:47 PM
You goob! Great job and a big congratulations on your win as Overall Female. Miss ya!
Posted by: Megan K. at October 14, 2007 12:36 PM