I made my way to this 5k last Friday after work hoping for a reprieve from our latest bout of heat and humidity. Alas, no luck. It was sunny, hot, humid, and just plain miserable. The course was certainly more varied than I would have expected, too, with rolling hills throughout the out-and-back. The race was definitely larger than I was expecting. There were probably around 80 people total and there were quite a few high school runners.
We lined up at 7:00 (an 8:00 might have helped some with the heat, but not much) for the start of the race. I lined up near the front of the pack and took off at a conservative pace. We hit a slight downhill at the very start as we made our way out of town onto country roads. I tucked in to fifth place at the start and focused on maintaining it through the race. The first mile went by in 6:32, much faster than I meant to go out. I slowed down some as we wound our way down more country roads. There's not much to report on this race as it was pretty much farmland and a surprising number of turns. We hit some rolling hills that would have been nice any other time of year. Not when the temperature is in the upper 80s. I did slow down to 7:02 for the second mile and tried to maintain that pace on the way back to the finish. I was pretty much running by myself with the fourth place person about 100 yards in front of me and the sixth 100 yards behind me. The last mile was pretty tough with a few uphills, particularly the one right by the finish. I was able to finish out with a 21:07, good enough for fifth overall and first in my age group.
Like I said, there's not much to report on this one as it was a tune up for my next race. The course was measured out to 3.1 on the dot, which I really appreciated. The organization was top notch for a local 5k and it was nice to grab some food at the festival before heading home. Next on the docket is a half marathon in my eleventh state.
Next race: Mad Half Marathon- Waitsfield, VT
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