Englewood Schools 5K race report

Today was my first race of this weekend, I was already signed up for a race on Sunday but I couldn’t pass this one up. It was small race put on by our kid’s schools, probably about 50 people in the race. Since my half marathon last weekend I haven’t run a single mile under 9:00 pace so I wasn’t sure if my speed would be ready to go sub 7:00’s today. I didn’t know till the end but the race was only 2.8 mile not an actual 5K.

1 Mile – 6:15, Avg HR 170. We went out really hard running the first 0.5 just under 3:00. After that blazing fast start there were only 3 of us in the lead group. I was in front setting the pace while the other two followed. I felt really good, I was actually surprised how quickly I had recovered from last week.

2 Miles – 12:34 (6:19 mile), Avg HR 184. After the excitement of the first mile our group’s pace dropped. About half way into this mile one guy made his move and I followed while the other runner was dropped and never returned. This guy put about 50 ft on me and I thought he was going to run away from me too. I figure I at least give it a try and I dug in and caught up to him but I was really in the red zone then and he easily pulled away immediately.

2.8 Miles – 17:21 (5:59 pace), Avg HR 191 (Max HR 198!). Going into the last mile this guy picked up the pace but I still caught him but he pulled away again. We play this cat and mouse game most of this mile. The race finished with 1 lap on the track. MY TRACK! I should have mentioned earlier that this race finish at my old high school where I have run lots of races. I wasn’t going to let this guy beat me on my home turf. As soon as we hit the track I made my move, again I chased him down but this time I didn’t let up and I went around him. He chase me for about 100 m before he broke (we put on a good show for small fundraiser) I didn’t slow down at all and sprinted into the finish in 1st place.

Overall I ran the 2.8 mile course at a 6:16 pace. That would have been an awesome 5K time but I am still really happy to win the race even if it was a small race. 2nd pace finished about 0:10 behind and 3rd place finished about 1:00 back. Also I got to beat my kid’s principle and a bunch on other kid’s parents that I know pretty well. My odd track coach was also there and got to see me win (he is the mayor now). I don’t think I ever won a race before.

Now it’s time to really test my ability to recover and see if I can run hard again in tomorrow’s 5K.