Get Fit in May 5k

This was a tune-up race for me with VCM 8 days out. The plan was to run pretty hard but not go to the well if there was somebody else evenly matched and vying for the win. I thought a 15:50-16:05 would be a reasonable effort; good enough to shake the legs out but not crazy enough to risk injury or reduce the effectiveness of the taper. When I arrived, I met my HSers and took them out along a 2 mi warm-up. We got back to the starting line with 15 minutes to spare. I gave them some instructions about how to prepare and then found my racers and got back to the line. Sometime around then I ran into teammate Sam Fazzioli who is returning to form after racing the Boston Marathon. He practically winced when he saw me. I laughed, ran over to meet him and he told me there was cash on the line. How much? $125. That was definitely enough to get me a little more fired up.

The course in Exeter is very flat with no notable hills. The 3rd mile drops maybe 30 ft and climbs back up in the last half mile and that's all. The horn sounded and I was out quickly to the front with no contenders. It was nice to have a motorcade to follow since I wasn't completely sure where the course would take me. I hit mile 1 in 4:47 and had to laugh. It was too quick. I felt incredible, and it occurred to me that this could be a PR kind of day if it let it happen. But, I also had a marathon coming up... and I kept the pace in check over the last two miles home in 5:02, 5:05. The clock read 15:30 when I crossed although I think there was a slight timing error since my watch had 15:37.

I immediately changed into trainers and got back out on the course to cheer in my athletes. They ran great! I was really impressed as many of them had never run a 5k before, and those who had ran big personal bests. We took pictures and hung out a bit for the awards ceremony before parting ways. It was a good morning!

7.5 mi total.