This is my first race after the Chicago Marathon. I've been feeling good, and feel that I've have reasonable speed. I have been gradually and cautiously building back up my miles. Everything has been feeling good and loose, with the exception of my hamstrings which have been relatively tight from ramping the weight back up on squats. However these have been getting looser too. The conditions were pretty good I'd have to say for a late October race in Chicago. The temperature at the start was about 45 F; there was a brisk wind coming out of the North at 10-20 miles per hour. To me it felt pretty stiff, and certainly during my warmup jog and striders I was feeling the wind. My previous 5K time was 20:21 about 6 weeks ago, so my goal time for this race was to break 20 minutes. I thought I'd have an outside shot at breaking 19:40, which is my high school PR. Hubris did not allow me to consider the possibility that I would run slower than 20:21. My race plan was to run even-ish splits, which would be a pace of 6:26/mile. Based on previous local 5Ks I lined up about 3-4 rows back, with about 40-50 runners ahead of me in the sold out field of 2000 (family-oriented event). The start was crowded, with everyone having to converge onto a narrow 6 foot path. A group of kids audaciously lined up in the front, held the pace for a 1/4 mile, then burned out. Within about 200 meters I settled into a pace and had reasonable running room. The course looped around some softball fields and after approximately 400 meters was headed due North, straight into the headwind. It felt pretty stiff. I tried to find a group to run with, but there was no one running right around my pace, so I had to face the wind alone. There were a few tall guys that I tried to connect with, but it seemed that everyone was feeling the wind, and no sooner than I connected would their pace slacken and I'd be forced to move on. One of the guys was dressed as Batman. I hoped they would stay on my shoulder, but I sort of just kept going. I hit the first mile at 6:26 on the head. So if there is a victory to be had in this race, is that by effort I'm reasonably capable of nailing a goal pace. Either that or I got lucky. At this point I felt that my breathing was a little heavier than it ought to be, but at the same time I felt strong, so I thought to myself, "well my goose is either already cooked having run this hard into the headwind or I'm going to have a good race." Or something along those lines. The turn out of the wind was approximately at mile 1.25. I didn't feel as fast as I ought to have with the wind now at my back -- this was my first inkling that this race was not going to be as strong as I had hoped. I kept going and around mile 1.5 passed my mother- and father-in-law who were walking their first 5K!!! (So proud of them--more later). I said hi, but I think they only realized I ran past them after I had already passed. Mile 2 was at 13:06 or so, so my second mile was run in about 6:40. The third mile was hard. I knew in my warmups there would be a section of the course where we'd be going up a gentle up hill (on the path near the U.S. Grant Memorial by the Zoo) into the wind, so I tried to prepare for that mini shock. It's funny how hard a little hill (like 20 feet vertical climb) and a little wind can hit you when you're running a little bit beyond your ability. At the top of the hill I knew I slowed considerably; one of the other runners even stopped and walked for a bit. I tried to pick it up coming back down the hill, but there was just very little gas. Two people passed me somewhere between 800 m and 400 m to go. At about 300 m to go, I caught sight of the mile 3 clock, and knew I was way outside of my goal time, but also had an accurate gauge of the fact that it was safe to kick, so I did. I picked off the two people who passed me, as well as the guy who had stopped to walk but had pulled ahead of me after that. Right after mile 3 there was a left turn and a tree-lined straightaway to the finish. 160 m to go. I gave it everything I had, and was starting to fatigue, but walking guy pulled even for a second, which was all I needed to kick it even harder and put him away. I finished in 20:40 and saw my wife at the finish line. I don't think she's ever seen me right at the end of a race before, and she was concerned. I'm pretty sure I have cold induced asthma and I think I need to get some Albuterol as the winter months approach. I don't know if this limited my performance; probably not significantly, but I was coughing intermittently during the last mile. It was certainly annoying. After getting my post-race beer and talking to some friends, we walked back to about mile 2.5 and waited for my in laws to walk by. They looked really cute on the path, and I was really proud of them--it's their first race, and I know that can be intimidating. We walked with them for a little while, but let them finish on their own. All in all it was a good race--certainly it was a learning experience. I'm OK with my performance. I'm glad to have run a somewhat overly aggressive 5K so I know what it feels like. I'm glad to know I can dial in a pace by number. What I need to learn better though is how to dial in my 5K pace in the first mile by feel. I know I have to run with more control in the first mile. You can't beat the wind; I tried and I lost. I knew that on some level, but now I understand it viscerally. I let my goal time to some degree override the signals from my body. Not egregiously, but enough where if I had held back more I could have run a faster race. That's an important lesson, too. I'm not worried about my fitness or the long term progression of speed, but I guess I'm just curious if 3 weeks post-marathon I'm not yet 100%. It's probably a moot point. Keep on training and build up the mileage!
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