Tristan, Rick and I arrived at the starting line with plenty of time. Tristan seemed relaxed and ready to go. We stretched and tried to stage as much as possible. It was a smaller race.
Neither Tristan or I have ever run a 5k, so I was feeling just a little bit of jitters myself. This would be over before I knew it. It was not the long drawn out battle of a marathon, but I wondered if I had the speed. Could I push a new rhythm for this race. I knew the marathon and the half marathon have different paces, so I imagined this one did, too. I thought it would be like a 2 minute punk song--manic and over before you knew it. What I got was something else.
Tristan, once the pack opened just slightly, kicked up his pace. He was flying the first mile. He was running at a lower six minute pace. He was pouring it on; I had a hard time keeping up with him. We lost Rick quickly. The two of us ran side by side. He pushed forward. Occasionally, he wanted to know how far we went. I kept him update. Mile One, Mile Two. It wasn't until after mile 2 that he started to really slow down. He developed a side cramp about mile 2.5 in.
We slowed our pace a bit and then tried to get back to our previous pace. We pushed hard. Trist was shot; still he worked. When I told him to push it, he told me to be quiet. He knows when he has had enough.
At the end, he finished 6th in the 12 and under group. I was 21st in mine. Rick was 19th in his.
Tristan and I finished side by side at 23:06.
Our pace was 7:26 minutes/mile.
We were the 202 and 203 finishers (the 141 and 142 males)
The day was cool--really perfect weather for a run. The event was fantastic and had a hometown feel. Good fast course--mostly downhill--through Laguna Woods. Definitely a race for next year.
No comments:
Post a Comment