Run with Rotary 5K

I wasn't going to post this as a separate entry originally, but when I started getting into it as part of another entry I realized it deserved it's own place.  

I wasn't planning on racing this because I thought it would be too risky with my 50 miler in 3 weeks, plus I wasn't sure how that would work with me trying to do one last really long run before I start my taper.  So then I thought I would pace my sister who was going to run in the 30 - 35 minute range but when she canceled last minute, (It's ok Biek, love you anyways :) ) I wasn't sure what I was going to do.  I mostly wanted to get my shirt, box of large band aids, 2 whistles and a sewing kit.  Gotta love local 5k swag.  Although I must say, the long sleeve tech shirt is pretty nice.

Pretty sweet long sleeve tech shirt for a local 5K

Anyways, on to the "race".  This was my first time running in a race by myself where I wasn't planning on racing it or pacing Abby. So, on a whim, I decided I would start in the middle somewhere at mid 8 minute pace, then second mile I'd drop it down to 8 minute and then 7:30 for the last mile.  I figured it would be fun to pass a bunch of people without feeling like I was killing myself. That was the plan.  The execution was a bit different. The first mile went just like the plan.  There were a ton of people ahead of me going pretty slowly so weaving around everyone took a bunch of time so I hit the first mile in 8:35.  Then I figured it was time to pick it up a bit.  So I thought I picked it up just a little, but it being a race and all, I guess somehow my plan for 8 turned into 7:28. I should also mention that I decided to do this whole thing by feel so I did not look at my watch the whole time.  When I hit the 2 mile mark I picked it up again and I felt like I was a pushing a bit hard but 7:30 isn't an easy pace for me so I thought I was close to it.  The problem was near the end of the race I decided to play a game of how many people can I pass at the end.  So I guess I pushed it a bit harder than I planned and ran the 3rd mile in 7:01.

My final time was 23:48 and I felt very good at the finish.  I was happy that my fitness level was such that a 7 minute mile at the end didn't feel crazy.  I though back to my first 5k I ran with Pete almost exactly 3 years ago when I had just been running a month where I averaged 8:17 pace and that was an all out effort.  It's cool to see that I can now run a 5k as a training run at a much faster pace.