The race in retrospect

More thoughts about Saturday's 5K race.  It felt good to be back in the saddle again, even though it was my slowest 5K race ever at 32:39.  Only once before did I run a 5K race in more than thirty minutes, a July 4th race several years ago on a hot, humid afternoon in the heat of the day run on the blacktop surface of the parking lots out at RFK Stadium which felt like running through a steel factory between two rows of blast furnaces.  I had to walk twice that day in the sapping, cloying heat and finished finally in about 31 minutes.

Sunday I didn't walk but it was a long slow grind on an out and back run on the W&OD Trail with one significant hill in the second mile that had to be tackled twice, going out and coming back.  Going out to the midway turnaround the runners sorted themselves out in staking out their positions in the race.  The hill didn't bother me in either direction, it was short (about 80 yards) although relatively sharp, because I've been working hills around here on my runs and they're knocking me back less and less.  Hills are good (training) for you, it's where you can take down a runner in a race who's close by and get or keep in front of him or her for good.

I got by two or three runners on the downhill section of the hill the second time and then had the last mile and a quarter to myself mostly as the runners were separated into their spots pretty much.  I was glad I had worn my ball cap as the sun was shining directly into my eyes on the return leg and the bill pulled down helped my vision considerably.  My eye woes last year has affected my vision while running noticeably, unfortunately, and I have trouble seeing the surface ahead of me in low light or bright light situations.

My breathing cadence settled from gasping to regular though heavy during the last mile.  A woman came up fast behind me then and disappeared slowly in front of me as she was finishing strong, the only runner who hauled me down in the second half of the run.  I watched her pass two more runners further ahead of me upon whom I had had no designs on catching, but her passing them motivated me to run a little bit faster (turnover! I thought) and I started eyeballing the runner 30 yards ahead as I slowly, very slowly, ran up on him.

I decided, from the back, that he might be in my age group and I passed the few minutes I used it took to catch him that thinking how disappointed in myself I would be if I took the easy way out and just kept my place and he was third in my AG thus putting me at fourth.  It ultimately was moot because the race didn't award AG places plus he clearly wasn't as old as me when I looked at his face, but still I caught and passed him, in the last quarter mile and one other runner 10 yards in front of him.  I spent the last 400 yards glancing behind me anxiously to see if either of them, or anyone else, was coming up on me near the finish line, the perils of being in front of likewise runners but nobody made a push those last hundred yards and I finished in the aforesaid 32.39, a time I was very happy with given that it was my first challenging run after spending 5 months coming back from a two-year complete layoff.

The race wiped me out and I'm a day behind in my training for the week, although I intend to make up the day.  I did run 4.2 miles on Monday in 47 minutes, with a long hill near the middle point, and contemplated as I tackled the hill both ways that although my pace hasn't really improved yet in the last several months, my ability to take on hills without wilting has definitely improved.  I am encouraged, I just wish I had someone to run with sometimes because I always enjoyed running with my running buddies, all of whom have moved away or moved on from running, at least with me.