Father's Day 5k 2011

I discovered this race in Arvada back in 2009, when I had decided to run a 5k every month. I signed myself and my dad up, and we both had fun running the race and then checking out the classic car show. Now, it's become a tradition.

I had high hopes going into this race. I felt pretty well recovered from my Steamboat marathon two weeks earlier. I hadn't had a 5k PR in two years, so I figured I was due. And I knew that this smaller race on a relatively flat course could offer a pretty good chance for a new best time. Plus, my streak was back on: starting with the Runnin' of the Green in March, I'd set four PRs in as many races.

I didn't have my Garmin for this race. After four years of relatively faithful service (well, three years of faithful service and a year of sometimes-adequate service--it did die on me in two marathons), I'd finally sent it in for replacement a few days before. So I would have to run this race entirely by feel. I was worried at the time. I'm used to being able to look down and tell myself to speed up or slow down, and I wouldn't have that luxury-slash-handicap at this race. (Of course, I didn't remember at the time that I'd had a similar situation when I ran the Cherry Creek Sneak: even though I had my Garmin with me, I deliberately chose not to look at it, deciding instead to run by feel. And that race was a PR for me.)

So I have no idea how fast I ran my warmup miles. If I had to guess I'd say they were about 9:00 pace. Whatever the pace, they felt good. I loosened up, threw in some strides towards the end, and got my heart pumping.

The race started a few minutes late, just like last year. The delay was due to the increased number of runners and folks arriving last-minute to get checked in, just like last year. The race was started with the wail of a fire engine, which was new this year. And kind of neat, except that there was no countdown for it; the siren just went off, and after a split second we all started running. (This marks the second race in a row that didn't have a countdown. The last one was the Steamboat marathon. And that race was a PR for me.)

Ten steps into my race, my iPod crashed. I have no idea what happened, it just stopped playing music. I fished it out of the pocket and tapped some buttons, but couldn't get it to play again. I tucked it away and tried to channel my frustration into running. For a few seconds I suddenly felt very tired, the way I sometimes do after an adrenaline rush wears off. In that moment, I knew I wasn't going to have a great race. Not because I was suddenly bereft of music (although that was annoying), but because I suddenly didn't have any energy. But I squashed that feeling down as best I could and focused on my breathing instead.

It seemed to do the trick. I was keeping pace with the other runners around me, and moving at what I told myself was probably a 7:00 mile. I knew I'd be able to bank some time on the forthcoming downhill, too. I took advantage of that downhill to move forward a bit in the pack, passing a few people before we turned towards the one mile mark.

A volunteer at the one mile mark was obligingly calling out splits, which is how I know I hit the first mile in 6:44. I was blown away! I mean, I've run a faster mile, but that was at a one-mile race. This was the fastest first mile of any race I'd ever run. I did some quick mental math and realized that I could slow to a 7:30 pace for the rest of the race and still PR. Of course, without my Garmin telling me how fast I was running, that conclusion was meaningless. Instead I did a quick systems check to see if I could hold this pace for the next two miles, and decided I could certainly try.

The second mile felt pretty much as fast as the first. Actually it felt a bit slower, but not by much. If I had to guess I'd say I fell to a 6:50 to 6:55 pace. Unfortunately I'm a terrible guesser when it comes to my own running pace. Based on my finishing time, the reality is, I probably fell closer to 7:15. And since the volunteer at that mile was not calling out splits, I have no idea what it actually was. But I still felt good and had fairly high energy.

I was only passed by three runners in the last mile. Two of them were high school girls, who were (according to the shouts of spectators and volunteers) the third and fourth girls overall. The third was a male runner whom I'd passed in the first half mile and had spent much of the second mile fighting off as best I could. Unfortunately by this time I was starting to run out of steam. I pushed as much as I could, but he pulled ahead of me for good with just over a quarter mile to go.

As we turned off the street and onto the path for the final quarter mile, I kicked it into overdrive. At least, I tried to. At that point my overdrive wasn't much faster than what I'd been running. I probably pushed myself to just under 7:00 pace for that last bit, but again the bottom line is I have no idea how fast I was running and am a terrible guesser. All I know is, I ran faster for that last quarter mile, but it didn't feel like much. Then I saw the finish clock less than a tenth of a mile away. To my amazement and joy, it read 21:30. I wish I could say that I sprinted that last distance (I really wish I could say that I caught the guy who had passed me), but I didn't. But I still crossed the finish line before the clock turned over 22 minutes.

After the race, I hung around long enough to sneak a peek at the preliminary results. According to the printout, my time was 21:50, which was a 69-second PR! Later that evening I checked online, and my final time was five seconds faster than that! My streak continues: five PRs in as many races.

Official Time: 21:45
YTD Race Miles: 80.9
YTD Total Miles: 670.1
Place: 37th overall, 10th in AG