Race Review: Randy's Run 5k

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about how Strava had said I just did a PR in a 5k. And I did that during a training run with walk breaks. So I figured I would head out and try to hit my 5k goal for the year. So I looked around and picked one close to my house. My wife signed up too, she was going to walk it with the kids in the stroller.

Randy's Run

This run benefits kids that attend Eden Prairie high school. A scholarship was set up after a man from the class of 1985 was kill in combat. So his classmates set up this run in his honor, and the money from it goes to fund the scholarship.

Race Morning

Spring in MN is dragging out, we woke up to rain and wind and 50 degrees. We got the kids up, put pants and sweatshirts on them. I put on some running gear and a sweatshirt to stay warm before the race. We drove over, it was misting / raining and still pretty grey. At that point we decided that probably the kids wouldn't deal well with the cold and rain while on a walk with mom, so she decided to sit it out. I did a quick warm up run, which I later determined was probably insufficient. I have noticed lately that without a warm up my heart will race a little at the start of a effort, and it can be mentally taxing.

Sitting in the car staying warm

Staying dry

The Start

So the deal with this race is they invite service members to race, and let them line up at the front. Other's can line up at the front too, but they get to line up early and compete in some sort of team 5k. So, knowing I'm not the fastest cat in the herd, and also not the slowest, lined up not quite at the front, but above the middle.

There was an unceremonious start, and away we went. I was surprised at how slow we took off, usually there's a surge of speed and then people slow down, but this group just sort of settled in on a pace that I was thinking was a little slow. So I sort of ran around people for a quarter mile or so. After that the group stretched out.

Lining up at the start. The guy in blue on the right wins. The guys in green end up winning as a special forces team. I'm in there somewhere :)

Heading across the start line, look how determined I look!

The Run

It was very hard for me to gauge my effort, on one hand nobody was passing me and I was passing plenty of people, on the other hand my watch was telling me that I was going below my goal pace. My legs felt like stumps. And I'll put this out there, I also don't really know how to pace a 5k, I was thinking to myself, stay strong, then push the last mile or so, that's where it will be hardest.

The miles were ticking by, I was still picking people off, catching some people who had sort of run away in the first half mile, but I knew I was missing my goal.

About 3/4 mile to go. I did catch that guy in white

Splits

7:25
7:27
7:10
1:36 (7:14 pace for .22 miles)

The Finish

We hit the 3 mile marker, which I knew was wrong, because there was no way we were only 500 feet from the end. I cannot for the life of me get my legs to move any faster, just lead, huffing and puffing, trying to find a little bit more speed. No dice. I ran across the line, didn't barf on the girl who was taking my chip off my foot and then met the kids and my wife.

Coming in, I had just passed that guy

We hung around for a bit, had ice cream and then the kids got cold and went back to the car. So we called it a day.

Post run water was a hot commodity

The littlest one found the only padded chair in the joint

Perfect day for some ice cream :)

The Results

23:35 (PR)
18/153

Closing Thoughts

First, the race was pretty good. A nice event, run by a good people. Though I have really gotten used to a nice results breakdown where I can see where I stand in my age group, or whatever. All we got for results was a PDF with names and times. Oh well, I got some nice water bottles and a pretty decent shirt out of the deal, and the cause seems pretty decent.

Of course I'm happy that I have a new PR, but I kinda thought I had some more get up in the legs. Who knows, maybe I do, maybe I don't. Right now I'm thinking about another run at it in a few weeks.

Also, my garmin says the course is long by about a 10th of a mile. That's not much, but my watch has my 5k time at 22:46, which makes me feel a little better :)