Another good race for me. Maybe last week’s races did mark a turning point in my recent trend of badly paced races.

 

First, the specifics:

 

Weather - warm, humid. Some sun, but mostly overcast. Wind of 15 mph.

 

Course - mostly flat. Just a few short, gentle rises. Started with a 3/4 mile loop around the Tampa Ice Palace. 1/4 mile over a bridge onto an island. Another 3/4 mile loop around the island. Back over the bridge. A mile out and back to a finish in front of the Ice Palace.

 

Results - my time of 25:29 was 1:34 faster than last week’s 5k race. Ave pace of 8:12 was the fastest pace I’ve raced this year. First in the 60-64 age bracket. Award was a plaque, a $20 gift certificate for a local running store, and a 6-pack of beer. Also won a random award of two tickets to a Tampa Lightning ice hockey game next week. But, since I won’t be here for it, I gave them to a lady who is a Lightning fan and was disappointed she didn’t win tickets.

 

Splits - 8:20 and 8:14 for miles 1 and 2. The last 1.107 miles averaged 8:09 pace, so my splits were slightly negative all the way. Best paced race I’ve run so far this year.

 

Now, my real race story:

 

There are two strategies for a 5k race. One is to start a little conservatively to better assure negative splits. The other is to run aggressively from the start and try to hold on to the pace all the way to the finish. The first approach is the preferred way to race most long distances. However, a 5k is short enough that the second method can work, especially when conditions are particularly favorable or you feel especially strong. The risk is that it does carry a greater risk of crashing and slowing before the finish.

 

Based on my disappointing races of the past few weeks because of starting too fast, combined with my encouraging success in last week’s 8k using a conservative start, I planned to use the safer approach and start a little conservatively. Sometimes plans go awry, however.

 

About a hundred yards into the race, a very cute young lady blew right by me with arms flying, blonde ponytail bouncing, and heels almost touching her butt as her legs churned. I knew she wasn’t going far at that pace. She didn’t. She slowed a few yards ahead of me, to run alongside a guy who I later learned is her father. Still, her high back kick indicated that the pace was probably too fast for her. I was intrigued to see how far she would go before crashing, so I decided to try to stay with them. About 1/4 mile farther, her father looked back over his shoulder, then slowed and dropped back to find someone else. (His wife, I learned later.) The lovely little lass didn’t slow and kept going by herself. I settled in behind her. The pace was just a bit aggressive for me and I knew from her stride that it had to be more so for her.