Stonemill 5k

I half debated holding off until the official results were posted on the race website but, not knowing how long that might take, I decided to let you all know how my race went last weekend. As I indicated in a previous post, I ran in the Stonemill 5k (previously known as the Sugarloaf 5k). It is a relatively small race that is sponsored by a local church as part of their summer festival. The relatively small field (~300 people I would guess) gave me hope of doing respectable in the final standings.

For reference, on Memorial Day I ran a 25:21 5k, which was my best to date following my 29:47 last September. My goal for the race on the 25th was sub 25 minute. Maybe I should have had a lower goal with my last improvement in mind but keep in mind that step changes get smaller as you approach the peak, anyway…

The night before the race was a bit odd. I had severe leg cramps in my left leg. My wife can attest that on occasion I wake up with terrible leg cramps. Historically these have always been in my calf muscles, rub my arch, give me a banana and they go away. The last two times (Friday night included) the cramps have been in a muscle along the outer shin of each leg. Can’t explain it, but I didn’t know how to make them go away either. I was awoken 3 times during the night, each time for roughly 5-10 minutes with this cramp in my left leg and started to wonder if I was even going to be able to run. When my alarm went off at 5:30, the leg felt fine, so I proceeded as planned.

The morning was perfect. Considering the fact that Atlanta has been in the midst of a record setting heat wave I was afraid the morning was going to be unbearable. The night before the race a series of storms rolled through and dropped the temperatures significantly. The clouds even stuck around for the morning. The daily high ended up being almost 10 degrees lower than the previous day.

The course was along an industrial park road but the organizers were thrown a curveball when the city water department decided it was time to install a new sewer line less than a week before the race date. The organizers did a good job of routing us over and around the construction well however and the only people that complained were the two old men who planned on running the race barefoot as there were a few spots with more gravel than one would hope for.

With the small field I decided to be optimistic and lined up about 8-10 feet from the front of the pack and seemed to judge it about right. I passed a few and a few passed me but for the most part I started where I should in the field. The race started with the first quarter mile all uphill with the steepest incline we would face in the entire run. This had the wonderful effect of stretching out the field quickly and making the rest of the run seem, for the most part, downhill.

At the 1 mile mark they yelled out 7:38. This was faster than I had planned and considering the long uphill at the start was actually a really good opening mile for me. By that mile mark I had settled into a group of three guys and we started passing a few of those greenies that really go out fast and then just die! We had a good rhythm but perhaps ran a little slower than we should. At the two mile mark they said 15:33. If you do the math that comes out to a 7:55 second mile. Still sub 8 minutes, which was my goal to meet my 25-minute mark but, in hindsight, a bit slower than it should have been for this relatively flatter portion of the course. At that point I abandoned this group and started pushing myself the last third.

As I crossed the 3 mile mark I kicked into an all out sprint with everything I had left for the last tenth of a mile. My semi-official time (until the results are released) was 23:51. Here is the math for you. That means my last 1.1 miles was in 8:18 which on a minutes per mile pace is roughly 7:33 minutes per mile. I don’t know my overall place yet but my place amonst the 30 year old males was 5th, just an agonizing 18 seconds out of 3rd which would have netted me a trophy. Mind you, in a big race I wouldn’t have even been in the ballpark of the word trophy but it would have been nice. Hindsight tells me my slower second mile cost me that trophy, but, oh well. I killed my sub 25-minute goal, I didn’t puke like I did in May, and I am more motivated than ever to kick it up a knotch… 10k race… Half-MARATHON??? Stay tuned for the updates.

And if you are wondering… I’m at 205. I’m hoping to be sub 200 by Thanksgiving (part of that whole Half-Marathon plan…)