Today was my first 5km race of the year. The race has an interesting finish in right field of the Fred Nats Stadium.
My training runs have improved over last year, so I was unsure how that would translate to race speed. Prepping for a couple of spring marathons, I did an 18-mile run last Saturday, where I was a minute per mile faster than a similar run last spring.
The race had an 8:45 am start time, allowing me to sleep until 5:45 am. I was out of the house by 7:30, so I could have enough time for a 40-minute warmup.
I started my warmup at 7:55 am, four repeats of 2-minute walks and 8-minute runs on the course roads. I ran about 4 miles to get a feel of the hills and the wind.
The weather was excellent, 43 degrees with a 30-degree dew point, partly cloudy skies, and light winds from the northwest. I wore shorts over compression shorts, my red FARC singlet over a long-sleeved shirt, a neck gaiter, gloves, a ball cap, and my Saucony Triumph 20.
The race has a double theme with a mix of baseball and Saint Patrick’s Day, thus the name Grand Slamrock. While changing into my singlet, I saw the green sea congregating behind the start line. About 3 minutes before the gun, I mixed into the crowd about 50 feet behind the start line.
The Lucky Road Leprechaun fired the starter’s pistol on time, and we were off. After the initial downhill, we turned uphill into the wind on Carl Silver Parkway. I was feeling well. I didn’t know if I should run faster.
After turning onto Gordon Shelton Boulevard, we hit a little headwind but were heading downhill. I went through the first mile in 9:00. Though not stressed; I felt I was running faster.
Reaching the slave museum memorial garden, we turned around and went around the rainbow arch that had blown over. We needed to go back up the hill, and I pushed the best I could, keeping tight to the tangents. My second mile was 9:09, and I felt I was running slower.
The final mile started flatter, and then we had a slight headwind as we returned to the stadium. I started getting a twinge in my right hamstring. After rounding the traffic circle, there was a tricky little uphill as we crossed the start line.
I took advantage of the downhill on the road behind the stadium. I have more spring in my legs with fewer long training runs. Once at the bottom of the hill, the road flattened, and we went through the external access gate onto the field by the left foul pole. Mile 3 was right after the entrance, and my time was 8:45.
The field has two different textured turfs. I don’t know how they do it, but you can feel the difference between the brown warning track and the green playing field. We headed toward home and made a turn down the first baseline.
The final stretch went out into right field. New turf technology is tremendous, and my final kick was an easy push on the spongy surface.
My finish time of 27:44 was a minute faster than last spring and the same as my fall 5 km. All three races were on the same course. I was hoping to be faster. I finished 100th overall, 64th male, and 7th of 21 among the 60 to 69-year-old males. With just under 400 finishers, I was close to the top 25%.
I ran a 16-minute cooldown and hung around during the awards. The race had post-race beer, bananas, and nut bars. Using Eliquis as a blood thinner, I need to avoid alcohol.
Rather than taking the healthy banana, I headed to Paul’s for a Chocolate covered. After all, I did run 8 miles. What’re 250 empty calories? I love the frosting oozing through the hole.