Well… My first 5k road race has come and gone. All in all, it went really well. My son and I decided to run together instead of racing, though I suspect he would’ve wiped the floor with me if I had let him. Next time around, we’ll probably race for time.
Pre-race preparation
We got down to the race about half an hour ahead of time, checked in, and then warmed up a bit. I didn’t have as much time to stretch as I had hoped, but I managed to get things loosened up and we walked down to the starting line with a few minutes to spare.
The weather report was calling for a 75% chance of rain at race time, and the radar when we left home made it look more like 99%. We thus broke out Zip-Loc bags for my iPhone and my son’s iPod Touch. Fortunately, the rain held off and the conditions were great.
After a quick introduction and a moment of silence, the courthouse bells chimed 8AM, and we were off. I was using RunKeeper, so I had periodic feedback on our pace, and I kept my son informed as we worked our way through the course.
In the beginning…
We took off faster than we had intended, clocking 9:17 over the first mile as we picked our way through the crowd. The course was fairly hilly, so we were helped early on by an overall descent, though there were a numbers of smaller ups and downs throughout.
We tried to keep a fairly even pace regardless of the hills, and we settled into a nice 10:00 pace for the second mile alongside the river. While a number of people blasted past us on the downhills, we often reeled them in on the uphills.
Unfortunately, we had to pay the piper for that initial descent, and we closed out the race by gaining back much of the elevation we had lost. The ascent started around the 2.4 mile mark, and I definitely paid for our fast start.
Around the 25 minute mark, I was starting to suck wind, and our pace was suffering. Nonetheless, we soldiered on, and closed out the third mile at 10:36 — considerably slower, but still a faster pace than we’d expected for the race overall.
The finish line looms
And finally… The finish line came into view.
I turned my son loose, and he sprinted toward the finish as I did my best to keep up. He wound up crossing about a second before I did. My time was right at 31:22, though I fumbled a bit with my iPhone at the end and RunKeeper reported 31:24.
(Also note that I’ve create a page for my 5k race times.)
Total mileage (according to RunKeeper) was 3.15 miles, in part because we started a ways back in the pack. We also probably didn’t run the most efficient race, as neither of us was familiar with the course before we ran it.
Ultimately, even with the extra couple of seconds due to my fumbling, RunKeeper estimated our overall pace at 9:58/mile. Given that we both anticipated a finish somewhere in the 33-34 minute range, we were very happy with our results.
Looking back
All in all, the race was quite fun. I enjoyed running alongside my son, and we also chatted with a few other runners along the way. I did get a bit grumpy as we approached and completed our final ascent, but we definitely had a good time.
As far as my body goes, I felt great. My (formerly) sore hip was a distant memory, and neither my calf nor my piriformis tightened up as had happened during a couple of my training runs. I think it’s official… I’m a runner.
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Yes you are a runner! You and your son ran an impressive pace for your first race. Congratulations!
Congratulations…and of course you are a runner!
Congrats! Well done!
Awesome! Nice time.
Awesome effort! You are most certainly a runner. Well done my friend.
I read on Joe’s blog that you ran your first 5k and wanted to come over here and say congrats!!!!
Congrats!
I’m envious. We still haven’t had a race yet.
Stepped on a piece of glass last week, which has set me back a bit. I’m trying to balance letting it heal with keeping up with the running to stay in good condition. Trickier than I’d anticipated.
Very respectable time! Good job!