5k Race Results

Yesterday´s 5k at the Boulder Reservoir can be summed up in one word: WINDY. When I left work at 5 PM the current weather reading said average winds at 28 miles per hour, gusting to 39. By the time I got to the Rez, it had picked up significantly. Nearly the entire course was exposed, since it ran right along the shore, and the lake was whipped into a frenzy of whitecaps.

Before I even got out of the car, I decided that I would try my best, but I wouldn´t be upset if I didn´t reach my goal of a sub-21 finish. The conditions were just too poor.

I wore a pair of running pants, a short sleeve shirt, a long-sleeve shirt, gloves, and a thin but warm hat. It was cold enough that I even wore my jacket during the warmup as well.

Just before the start, I heard someone call my name, and I turned to see my friend Dave, who had recently returned from some crazy-assed race in the frozen northlands of Canada. It was a 6-day running stage race over ice and snow, covering 50 km each day. He´d won, and returned with a $10,000 diamond as the grand prize, which he presented to his wife. Pretty cool.

I said, "Dave, I´ll give you ten bucks if you´ll run right in front of me the whole way and break the wind for me." He laughed.

The race organizer said go, and all 176 participants started running. For the first mile we mostly had a tailwind, but I tried to keep things under control and not go out too fast. I felt comfortable as we chugged along in a large scattered group.

At the first hill I consciously eased up a little bit, since we had also just turned smack into the wind for the first time. A guy in a red shirt passed me, and I tucked in behind him for the nice draft. We turned left along the first dam, and the wind was coming from my right shoulder. I stayed in red shirt guy´s draft as we passed mile 1 in 6:33. I secretly hoped to be able to keep up this pace.

Then we turned straight into the wind. It was so strong that it was even hard to breathe. My effort level increased, but my speed dropped like a shot. This would not be easy, I realized.

Turning onto the second dam, we had another crosswind. Looking down the line of runners, it was funny to see everyone leaning to their right to brace against the wind as they ran. The leaders passed the turn-around, and I saw that Dave was still right there with the lead group. That was great for such a short race, because his best distance is ten times the length of a 5k.

Red shirt guy and I had been trading the lead, but at the turn-around I forged ahead. I passed mile 2 in 7:04. Not the greatest, I thought, but these were tough conditions. I focused on a woman 30 meters in front of me, and tried to catch her. It wasn´t easy, but after another quarter mile I finally closed the gap and pulled ahead. To my surprise, she passed me back after only 30 seconds. I picked it up again and passed her back. This time it stuck.

Now on the long straightaway of the first dam again, I had another target, again 30 meters ahead. It took most of a mile to catch this guy, but I pulled ahead right as we turned away from the wind for the first time since the start. I was pushing pretty hard now and heard footsteps on my tail, so I told myself not to relax my pace a bit. I passed the mile 3 marker in 6:45, and pressed on to the finish. When the clock came into view, I saw that it said 20:56. My sub-21 would not happen tonight. I crossed the finish in 21:08, 24th of 176, and I was happy with that. It was still 7 seconds faster than my 5k from two years ago on the same course, so I think I´m on track with the training right now. I just need to do a race without that dreaded wind!

I´m typing this from a quirky little outdoor internet cafe in San Jose, Costa Rica. It should be a fun week, but there won´t be a lot of running in it for me. That´s fine, I can use the rest.