November 8, 2015
17:23, 1st
This happened to be the 4th installment of the Westerly Land Trust's Setting the Pace for Conservation 5k. Due to injury I was unable to compete in 2014 and was looking forward to this race because it was close to home and I like the course. Despite the fact that I don't run too many trails, I do admire the efforts of this group around town with land conservation and an affinity for preserving nature. After a recent decent performance at the Monster Dash 5k, I had higher expectations for myself than I had originally planned out. Ideally, I wanted to crack 17 and if I could not crack 17, I wanted to run better than 17:09 (my time at that race). The morning was a bit chilly and windy but we had overall good conditions to run. I warmed up for about two miles with Shara and Gazelle before getting into racing gear and heading to the starting line. Shara had also been really strong and came pretty close to cracking 19 at the Monster Dash so I expected a big day for her.
The Race
The gun went quickly went off and I was able to start strong off the line. My main competition for the day would be Gazelle and Jeff Duda. {Matthew, glad you were still in season for this race. We wouldn't have provided you any competition anyway}. As we started out, Gazelle and I encouraged Duda to dig in with us. Jeff tucked in right behind me and I could tell he was running strong and aggressively. I joked with him and Duda that I could see how it is and that I'd do all the work for them! Gazelle and I headed out of the preserve and I felt like we were really pushing. Not being sure of our first mile split, I was running based off effort and competition but man did it feel like we were running fast. Turning off Watch Hill Road and onto Avondale Road we were struck with a strong headwind that felt like it really slowed things down. By the time we turned onto Champlin Drive, I was gassed but happy for a reprieve from the wind. Feeling tired and slow, the Gazelle was riding me like a dog on a meat truck. I was officially running scared. He passed me right before the cul-de-sack turn and I thought it was over. Somehow I was able to pull back up to Jeff and just wanted to stay as close to him as I could. Eventually I was able to pass the Iron Gazelle again but I was cautious about trying to run much harder as I wasn't sure if he'd strike back. By the time we made it back into the preserve, I hoped to have a little lead on him. I didn't want to be running neck and neck with not much to go. I ended up crossing the line in 17:23 and the Gazelle crossed in 17:32 (an impressive run and new PR). Duda crossed in 18:07 in 3rd and not long after Shara came through in a big PR at 18:44, which was good 1st female and 4th overall.
I was happy to take the overall win and hold off Jeff. I didn't end up meeting my time goals and left disappointed in my time because it was about 40 seconds slower than two years ago. Big congrats to Shara and Gazelle on their PRs!
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