Race Report: 1st Annual Stow Gobbler 5K
Well, the final race of 2007 is here, and after the disappointing last few races, I pretty much left all expectations on the floor, and just went out and ran a race, being more interested in just racing. I think it worked really well. For those of you who are used to me running in Michigan, the race was held in Stow, Massachusetts, near my in-laws house.
Well, it was another standard November day. It was 40 degrees and foggy/misting, pretty much the same as the Ann Arbor Turkey Trot 10 days ago.
This race was something a little different. The Race Organizer was a 17 year old kid who was putting the race together for the first time with the help of the local Park and Recreation Department. He was doing it for a service project for school, something a little different than your usual race organization. The course started at Bose Corporation offices in Stow, and then skirted the outside of the city, (and really despite being paved, the roads aren't much different than running the roads around Hell, MI.
The organization was fantastic, there were no hitches until the very end of the race (when the awards ceremony didn't get started until about 90 minutes after the race had ended), but everything else was great for a small race of about 300 participants (runners and walkers).
I started out in the third rank and ran pretty well off of the gun, not getting stuck behind people who were slower than me. I felt really good out of the gate, running quite strong, challenging people who sought to pass me, and not getting passed by anyone after getting settled into a pace. I cruised through the first mile at 6:20 or so and felt excellent and tried to maintain the pace through mile two. I finally got passed by someone at a mile and a half, but kept up with him through the second mile, slowing a little, but staying at about 6:40 pace or so through the mile mark.
Having run the back side of mile 3 in warmup, I had a pretty good idea when I wanted to kick it up a notch, so I kept up with the guy who passed me, continuing to challenge him while yet another runner started catching up. I started my kick at about 3.7 or so, and passed the first guy, but sadly, let myself be passed, as I really a) started flagging hard, and b) realized that I didn't have another gear to speed up to.
I hit the finish line without passing anyone else at a pretty pleasant 19:57.
Executive Summary:
time: 19:57
splits: 6:16-6:36-6:20
place: 15/315
ag place: 7/? (30-39 age group)
So, I was happy to finish at sub-20 given the prior fall results. My thinking is now that my lack of speed work through the summer really is affecting races now, even though they weren't really affecting races then. That and the extra stress from my new job is really cutting into my volume of running already (something that I don't plan on continuing, gotta organize my time better).
Anyway, next year needs to have more speedwork, now that I have a full winter for base, I should be able to build a great platform to run some PRs in 2008.
Well, it was another standard November day. It was 40 degrees and foggy/misting, pretty much the same as the Ann Arbor Turkey Trot 10 days ago.
This race was something a little different. The Race Organizer was a 17 year old kid who was putting the race together for the first time with the help of the local Park and Recreation Department. He was doing it for a service project for school, something a little different than your usual race organization. The course started at Bose Corporation offices in Stow, and then skirted the outside of the city, (and really despite being paved, the roads aren't much different than running the roads around Hell, MI.
The organization was fantastic, there were no hitches until the very end of the race (when the awards ceremony didn't get started until about 90 minutes after the race had ended), but everything else was great for a small race of about 300 participants (runners and walkers).
I started out in the third rank and ran pretty well off of the gun, not getting stuck behind people who were slower than me. I felt really good out of the gate, running quite strong, challenging people who sought to pass me, and not getting passed by anyone after getting settled into a pace. I cruised through the first mile at 6:20 or so and felt excellent and tried to maintain the pace through mile two. I finally got passed by someone at a mile and a half, but kept up with him through the second mile, slowing a little, but staying at about 6:40 pace or so through the mile mark.
Having run the back side of mile 3 in warmup, I had a pretty good idea when I wanted to kick it up a notch, so I kept up with the guy who passed me, continuing to challenge him while yet another runner started catching up. I started my kick at about 3.7 or so, and passed the first guy, but sadly, let myself be passed, as I really a) started flagging hard, and b) realized that I didn't have another gear to speed up to.
I hit the finish line without passing anyone else at a pretty pleasant 19:57.
Executive Summary:
time: 19:57
splits: 6:16-6:36-6:20
place: 15/315
ag place: 7/? (30-39 age group)
So, I was happy to finish at sub-20 given the prior fall results. My thinking is now that my lack of speed work through the summer really is affecting races now, even though they weren't really affecting races then. That and the extra stress from my new job is really cutting into my volume of running already (something that I don't plan on continuing, gotta organize my time better).
Anyway, next year needs to have more speedwork, now that I have a full winter for base, I should be able to build a great platform to run some PRs in 2008.