My amazing 2014 running season continued last weekend with the CACY Drug Free 5k in nearby Lexington, OH. This was a fantastic 5k run on the B&O Bike Trail that runs in a semi-circle around the southern half of Richland County. The field size was small, but I could tell there were some serious runners out there during the pre-race warm-ups. My training has been pretty consistent over the past month and I was shooting for a sub-21:00.
We started out heading south on the bike path and I took off like a beast. Translation: Way too fast. We had a downhill early on that I flew down to take the race lead right out of the gate. Not much to report after that as this part of the bike path isn't very scenic. Much of the course was shaded, which was nice. I flew through the first mile in 6:13. Again, I was going way too fast as my goal was to get a 6:30 here. I had a nice lead as we made our way to the turnaround point, which had about a half mile worth of shade. The temperature difference was huge and I was able to hang in there. At the turnaround, I noticed the runner in second place was about 200 meters behind me. This is a good lead, but I had my doubts I could keep it with how fast I went out. The second mile came in at 12:53 (6:40) so I was definitely slowing down. The last mile was rough. It was seriously warming up and much of this last mile had no shade whatsoever. It was tough going and I did what I know I shouldn't do which is look behind me. The next runner looked to be closer to a quarter mile off at this point, so I let off the gas just a bit. We made our way towards the finish and the uphill that I had flown down at the beginning. It wasn't bad and I was able to come in for a very good 20:36 finish and first overall!
To think I had never won a race until December is hard to imagine, as I've had two first place finishes and one second place since moving to Richland County. Add my 10k (albeit in an indoor race) and half marathon PRs and it seems 2014 is my year. I have the next couple weeks off before another small 5k and a half marathon in July.
Next race: Tiro-Auburn Firefighters Festival- Tiro, OH
