Armadillo Run 5k

Time: 19:49
Overall: 8 out of 360
Age Group: 2nd Place

I had a much better race today. I’m not sure if it was just getting the first 5k out of the way last week or taking 2 days off before the race.

The race had the 5k and 10k start at the same time. At about the 1.5 mile mark the 5k runners turn back and head to the finish. Up until that point you don’t know who is running which race.

My race plan today was to start a little easier than last week. My first split ended up being a 6:15 which was a little slower than last week. But unlike last week I felt pretty good. There were about 13 runners ahead of me but I didn’t know which race they were running so I stayed in the group that I was with. As I approached the turnaround nearly everyone that was near me was running the 5k. At that point I knew that I was in 10th place.

I had no shot of catching the 4-5 lead runners but I felt that if I hung with the other runners I could out kick them at the finish. My second split was 6:23. I was a little surprised because I felt like I pulled back a little more than that. As I made the final turn with around ½ mile left I was able to pass 2 more runners to put myself in 8th place. Besides the guy who was right in front of me it looked like all of the lead runners were under 40 (which turned out not to be the case) so if I could overtake him I would get the top masters award. As I hit the 3 mile mark at 19:08 (6:30 split) I gave everything I had left and was able to pass him but at the same time a young kid that I had just recently passed came flying by the both of us and beat me out for 7th place.

When the overall results were posted 5 of the 7 runners ahead of me were in their 40’s.

Overall I was satisfied with my race. I beat last week’s time by 30 sec and just missed tying my PR by 2 sec. It will be a while before I run a competitive 5k again (July 4th weekend maybe) so I may have to settle for this as my top 5k of the year. I have 2 marathons in the next 10 weeks to focus on now.

Results

Armadillo Run