This past Friday, I ran in the 1st Annual Hog Jog 5k road race in Sandwich, MA. It was a beautiful day on Cape Cod. My goals for this race was to feel good early and race late if I were in any position to race. Racing, for me, is evaluating how I feel in the last third of the race and trying to pass whomever is in front of me. I was looking to maintain a 7 minute pace for 3.1 miles. I had my watch warning me if my heart rate went over 170 beats per minute. I figured that the warning would help me have enough left to put a surge on in the end.
So how did I feel? Well, my warm-up run was terrible. I had driven 2 hours and was feeling pretty lousy. I went for a ten minute jog and my 9 minute pace was leaving me feeling bad. I didn’t think I had anything for this race.
The horn sounded and I took off and felt terrific. I began the first 300 yds going at 6:30 pace and could not have identified what pace I was going at. Adrenaline is a powerful thing and this race was not something I was pumped up for. Nonetheless, it was surprising to me to feel that good.
The first mile was a battle for me. The leaders went out and I decided to rear back and keep my pace at 7:30 pace. I figured the skinny high school kid good to stay away from. These guys can drop an 18 minute 5k without blinking, so the 31 year-old injury-prone, 181 lb man should stay away. Maybe after a year of 30 plus miles a week and lots of recent racing experience then I would have reacted differently.
The second mile was spent trying to check my fitness and keep my form from breaking down. I was at 6:30-6:45 pace. Two guys were up ahead and the rest of the crowd behind me got stuck behind a train. One of the two men stopped to tie his shoe and he was immediately thrown into a battle with me. I passed him with a mile to go and i focused on the man in front of me. I was making contact (so close that I could pass him in the finish). But I had no idea about the finish, so when I turned the corner into the finish it was too short for any sort of pass at the finish. 19:47 was my time. My goal was to break 24 minutes. I was happy and it got me feeling pretty confident.
I ran my cool down to go find my wife who ran the entire thing without walking. This is the first time she ran 5k without stopping. It was a great accomplishment for her and she seemed pretty excited.
Overall, it was a great race. Very organized and I was proud with I had done. My fitness is not great and I have a long way to go. But this 5k gives me good information on where my fitness is and where I can see it go.
Go hogs!