I ran a 5K on a high school cross country course Saturday morning. I have run this particular 5K since 2003. Since 2003, my times on this course have gone down. I have never run a fast time on this course. It is because it is hilly, has uneven ground and is usually humid. My goal heading into this race was to try to get a sub-30 time. I came close last year but just missed it. I ran 30:17. It was humid again at race time. I didn't want to think about the humidity. I wanted to run the best I could and not blame my race on anything besides myself.
When the starting horn went off, I quickly found myself in the back of the pack. I ran my race and started passing people within the first mile who started too quickly. The first mile took us through a swampy area with sandy footing and a nice hill. On the hill most people were going up the side that had grass growing on it. I took the most direct route that was a dirt path. If I wasn't wearing my trail shoes I would've had a tough time on the hill. My trail shoes dug in the dirt and let me up the hill will ease. At mile marker one, I just finishing passing a group of three to more runners and passed it at 8:30.
Mile two had some more hills and I passed more runners. Two guys passed passed me during the second mile. They were the only ones to do so since the start of the race. When they passed me, I wanted to catch them. I was unable to do so, but two females were ahead of me. Since I couldn't pass the guys, I wanted to run down the ladies. I caught both of the women together with about a half mile to go. Once I passed them, I started picking up my pace. When I picked up my pace, I quickly came upon a group of three guys. I ended up passing them before going back into the swamp area.
Running through the swamp area again, I was inching my way closer to another group of guys. I passed one before running downhill. After the hill, I found myself behind two more guys. I could tell that the guy closest to me was getting tired. The guy up ahead was looking good. I wanted to pass the guy before leaving the swamp area heading to the finish line. When I got side-by-side with him, he said "good job" to me. I told him the same and tried to catch the guy ahead of me.
The course finishes on a downhill and tried to get closer to the front guy. He beat me to the line by 10-15 seconds. The guy I just passed before leaving the swamp area was right on my tail. I started running just a little bit faster and I was hoping I could hold him off. I ended up holding if off and finished with my best time on the course, 27:55:68. I finished second in my age group out of six runners.
I mentioned that the course is hilly. It is a challenging course, but this year I found it to be a little easier. I'm very happy that I have incorporated hill intervals into my workouts. The hills were easier then what I remembered in year's past. With the hills being easier, I didn't dread running the course. It was actually fun running it. Can't wait until next year where I hope I can decrease my finishing time again.
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