Talk about an amazing group. I'm actually proud to wear the Grinders Blue uniform. And I can easily say that I'm not going to embarrass it either. :) We had our first real test of the racing season so far, it what turned out to be a HUGE race. In all, there was over 400 participants this year. That's double last years event. That's pretty staggering considering that the race moved to a new location with a brand new course. And I think they scored a hit with this course. The course was moved to Dove Mountain, a quiet suburb of Marana, and home of the PGAs Accenture Match Play, where the Top 64 gofers in the world converge in a head to head tournament.
The tournament was just a few short weeks ago, and you would really hate to have to close down the only roads leading into the Golf course during that time.....Needless to say, the race course which starts at the base of Dove Mountain is anything but flat. I quickly realized this when we were doing our pre-race warmups and headed up the course. Literrally....Up..... At that point I decided that don't set yourself up for failure by expecting to break your 5K PR of 21:57. That just leads to a bad rest of the day. Run a smart race, don't go out too fast only to blow up after you've given everything you had on the opening hill.
And I raced perfect to plan. Typically I'll start out my 5K efforts around a 6:40 pace, that was an unreal expectation, so I throttled back and ran a 7:05....After we made our first turn, the course went downhill....Not a good sign on an out and back course, so I knew I had better take advantage of this segment, and stretch out the legs.....and just as I suspected....The back was going to hurt. It was funny, I let people pass me at the front, knowing I could reel them in later...And that's exactly what happened as they blew up 1 by 1. I finished mile 2 in 7:15, but I still had about a quarter mile to go up the hill....I started to push this segment, and by the time I hit the turn to go back down the hill to the finish, I think I was pretty spent.....But I knew I had a long downhill segment....And I upped my tempo, but I could only get back to the 7:05 range, which is where the split ended up. The last tenth, turned into a dead sprint that I finished in 40 seconds, and managed a very nice 22:17, amazingly only 20 seconds off my personal best. I can gaurantee there was a full minute on that hill, which means if this were a flat course, I think well onto me goal of breaking 21 minutes in the 5K.
As luck would have it.....I'm happen to be in the most competitive age group at 37 years old. Overall places 2, 3, and 4 were there.....I think 6 out of the top 10 were in my age group. I will say this. I was 8th overall in my age group. That is the HIGHEST placing in a race of this size and a race with this much talent in it.
To say that I am happy with my result would be an understatement....I'm ecstatic with my result. Today was an off day....and tomorrow is a recovery 10x300m hill work out. Thankfully I haven't missed a hill session......It really paid off yesterday!
Until tomorrow....Train Hard and LIVESTRONG !
