It was just a 5k, so there isn't a whole lot of report in this Race Report. The family and I headed down to London the day before to stay and play with our friends, letting the kids eye up their competition for the next few years. The night went about as smoothly as it could, given that a four month old was expected in sleep somewhere other than her own bed for the first time. There were a few wake-ups, but I actually got a decent night's sleep.
We made it to the race site about an hour before the gun was to go off, so after check-in I could get in a few kilometres of warm-up/scouting. The weather was just about perfect for a race morning, temperatures around 13-15, no wind, cloudy, maybe a bit humid from the rain the night before. As I was out for my jog, the half-marathon started and got swarmed by the "go longer" crowd. I tried to stay out of the way as much as possible, sneaking off course to turn around, and avoid getting the way on my return trip. Far from a flat loop, the course had a few significant climbs, including the big one coming back, leading into a false flat drag to the line. It would make pacing a challenge.
Once we were gathered to the start, I lined up second row, expecting I would be one of the faster people. Right from the gun, I was swarmed from behind by a number of runners, most likely headed out a bit quicker than their abilities would dictate. Even by 400m, I was getting back a bunch of the spots I lost early. I used the downhill part of the first kilometre and a half to carry some good speed over the few rises, and felt OK for the most part. I don't normally do well at these shorter races, since I just don't have the natural speed. I continued to pick off a runner or two until the turnaround, but by then we had mostly fallen into our respective places. From that point on, I only gained one more spot. I am proud to say that I was never passed after that initial flurry, so I didn't have the collapse of two weeks ago.
The big hill coming back, even though I knew it was coming, just sucked all the speed out of my legs. I kept a good posture and a quick turnover to minimize the damage. Then it was time to get to the line. With any luck, there weren't any race photographers at that point, because I was in full-on Stroke Face*. As I rounded the corner to see the line, I could make out that the clock was 18:3x. Shooting for a sub-19, I started to "sprint", which translates closer to "try really hard but maintain the same speed". Unfortunately the clock ticked over before I could make it, but I gave it all I had.
Official results:
19:12 Gun Time, 19:11 Chip Time, 14th overall, 3rd M30-39
How does this compare to my goals? Well, I kind of had sub-19 as a minimum goal, but the course was pretty tough. I'd say I would be 10-15 seconds faster on flatter loop. Also, I did run 18k yesterday, since this was a "train through" race, which was probably 1-2 seconds per km. And sleeping in an unfamiliar bed, with a baby waking up every few hours, probably cost me a bit too. So sure, I'm making excuses, but I think this points to my fitness being about where I'd want it, at 18:45-18:50 shape. At least that's how I'm taking it, and that's a nice confidence boost in my mind. I fought all the way to the end, which I haven't done in a race for a while. I accepted the suffering and kept at it as best I could. Now I'll take this into the 'A' race in two weeks time.
*credit to Dave Roche for the racing term "Stroke Face"
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