In preparation for my fall races, I wanted to test my legs at a local 5k. It went just about as well as I could have hoped.
Every year, the local racing calendar in Hattiesburg starts off with a local 5k on Labor Day weekend. The "Labor your Legs 5k" is one of the first races I ran here when I moved to Hattiesburg in 2007. I enjoyed many years of running the race with my family. When I first started running it, Owen and Glenn were young enough such that they would run the kids 1 mile race while I would run the 5k. Within a couple of years, though, Owen (and to a lesser extent, Glenn) was interested in running the 5k, and we would run them together. This led to some natural rivalries for him between himself and the few other kids his age who would run these races. To this day, there are certain names the evoke that competitive spirit in my youngest.
This eventually led to Owen and I running longer distances. In 2013, we had some pretty bold running plans. In January, we ran the annual New Years Day race, the Steamwhistle 12k, in April, we ran the first edition of the Hattiesburg Half (at that time called the Rise and Shine Half), and that Fall, we trained for a full marathon. To this day, Owen has the state record for the fastest marathon by a 12 year old in Mississippi (not sure how many 12 year olds have run a marathon, but that's besides the point).
Well, that's all to say that I have been running this local race for a number of years, and it holds a lot of memories for me. This year, I was running it alone as everyone else had moved out of Hattiesburg by now, and no one was visiting for the weekend. I had just helped move Glenn towards (if all not all the way to) St. Paul. However, given where I am in my training cycel (2 weeks from Barkley Fall Classic and 4 weeks from Twin Cities Marathon), it was going to be a good chance to see what sort of impact my training has had.
Goals for the race
As I started to get closer to this race, I stepped up my speed work, with doing Lasso 800s at the local track just a half mile from my house. I decided that while my Garmin was saying I should be able to run a sub 20 minute 5k, that it was much more likely to run closer to a 21:00. When I started looking back at previous results, I realized that I had run my fastest 5k since I moved to Mississippi in 2007 at this race back in 2015 with a 21:21. I had several 5ks that were around that time, with a 21:24 and a 21:33 also recorded around that time. There seemed to be a real ceiling (or floor) around my times where I wasn't able to break 21:20. Given all that, the 21:00 seemed like a reasonable goal.
Even though that seems reasonable, I also realized what that meant. In order to run a 21:00, I would need to run a 6:40 mile (or so). Even with my speed work, I was only running about a 6:40 pace every 800. I hadn't run a mile at that pace and especially not a 5k, so I was a bit doubtful that I could pull it off.
Morning of the race
The morning of the race, I got moving at my regular time (getting up by 5 or so). I handled things around the house, read, and got ready to go. I hoped to get there about 45 minutes ahead of time to do packet pick up, but it was a bit closer to 35 minutes ahead of time so I had to hurry some. I got in about a mile of a warmup run, ran to the restroom, and downed a half of a Powerade. The morning was pretty warm, so I had swapped my warm up shoes and shirt with dry versions of both. I ended up jogging up to the start line just about 3 minutes till the gun
The Race
The race starts and ends a local (mostly abandoned) 1990s style mall. The parking lot is not well paved and so there were plenty of potholes and loose gravel to deal with. I made it through that section and started up the first small hill which was along the US 49 frontage road. I was keeping a steady 6:40 pace for this first half mile and by the time we were in the neighborhood, I was feeling good, though I wasn't sure if I could sustain it. By the time, I hit the one mile mark, I came in at 6:42, so just a little over my 21:00 pace, but I didn't feel like I could really push it yet. As I approached the midway point, I passed one of the older fit guys that was out ahead of me. There were some young studs in this race, so I knew I wasn't competing for a podium, but I figured I could get an age group award.
I hit the 2 mile mark to make the turn back to the start and my split was at 6:44, just off my pace. I was still feeling good, but not like I really could move up through gears. As we moved down the final long stretch, there were two runners that might have been my age up about a tenth of a mile ahead of me, so I started to push to try to catch them. We then made a left turn up a two-step hill and with all my hill training, I was hoping to be able to push, and I did ok. As I made the final turn to the finish, my 3 mile split was 6:45, so just a bit slower again. My final push to the finish was right around at a 6 minute pace and so I finished with a 21:06. This ended up by my fastest 5k in 18 years!
After waiting around for a about 45 minutes or so, it was time for awards, and I was very happy to end up taking the Grandmaster male! This was my second Grandmaster trophy of the year. It was a hot and humid speed workout, if nothing else.
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