Hoofin' It In Hampton

After a week of dreadful runs, my training is finally back on course. I just returned from the Hampton 5 Miler, and I am pleased to report that I finished the race well ahead of my goal pace. I'll break down the run, and give you the highlights. If you're too impatient to read my rant, you can just check the race results here.

Mile 1: 6:07

The first mile was flat/downhill, and deceptively fast. A lot of people bolted out of the starting gate, while I held back a bit, hoping that a few of those runners would fall back once they settled into their pace. I had a goal in mind, and didn't want to ruin my chances because of a fast first mile.

Mile 2: 6:38

This was my slowest mile of the race, by far. I have a bad habit of falling off pace after a fast first mile (the same thing happened at the Chipman 10k last month), and it was happening again. Luckily, Andrew Vail caught up to me at this point, and together we pushed each other, weaving through the crowd of runners that were in front of us.

Mile 3: 6:15

This section was mostly downhill (with a little incline at Cozy Corner to make things interesting), so I made up a little lost time on this section. Andrew and I traded positions, and continued pushing our way though the pack. Everyone was spread out at this point, so our progress was limited to the occasional runner. We were still moving up in the standings, though, so I had no complaints.

Mile 4: 6:20

Another downhill section. I ran down Main Street as fast as I could, hoping I had enough gas left in the tank to meet my goal. My legs gave a little shudder after a particularly long downhill section, and I wondered if it signaled a shift in pace. I gave out a short, breathy sigh, buckled down, and increased my efforts. I wasn't finished yet.

Mile 5: 6:06

At this point Andrew had pulled away from me, intent on passing one more person before finishing (he finished six seconds ahead of me). Meanwhile, I had gotten passed by John Acheson (I don't know him, but I saw his name in the race results and figured I would include him in my blog). The late race pass was the motivation I needed to finish strong. I pulled in behind John as we neared Hampton High School, and bolted by him as we neared the finish line in an attempt to knock a few more seconds off my finish time. Final time: 31:26, placing 21st out of 334 runners.

Hopefully this is a indication of good races to come. According to the Mercier Score Calculator, my five mile time is the equivalent of a 3:05 marathon. I seriously doubt I'll run that fast at the KV Challenge, but at least, on paper, I have a chance to qualify for Boston. Fingers Crossed.