Parkway 5K

Got up early and Heather and I headed down to the Parkway, for a 5K where I hoped to help team "EZ on the Eyes" defend their 1st place title from last year.

It was a large crowd, especially for a 5K, but I had no trouble picking up my race packet. Pinned it on and went for a 2 mile warm-up run through the city. It was warm and I was sweating profusely by the time I finished. Not the best conditions to race but not horrible.

I made a mistake lining up and ended up to far back. I should have forgotten about courtesy and shoved my way up front. I was in a hole from the gun that I had to climb out of by weaving, dodging, and dipping around people until I got to the outside and could make up some ground.

I passed a lot of runners on the parkway as we raced towards MLK. The first mile went by in 6:07, I was hoping to come through this mile in 5:40 or so. The bad start and tired legs had slowed me down a bit.

I was still passing a lot of runners going out on MLK, turned around, passed mile 2 in 12:03, a 5:56 mile. Things had sped up. I was feeling OK and had setteld into a group of runners that I wasn't passing so rapidly. Back to the parkway where I passed a couple guys and tried to hold pace.

The last 1/4 mile or so I was slightly behind another runner. We went back and forth for the lead a couple times but he was able to pull ahead of me in the last bit. Looking back at these duels for position I always feel like I could have given a little more but at the time I feel like I am all out. I think hindsight is forgetful, or at least I hope it is.

Post-race there was a lot of good food, as promised by last years runners, and good laughs as some of the Philly Runners chatted waiting for the awards. The wait was long and I was getting antsy to get rolling, luckily I waited.

Our team again won first place, and the second place team was also composed of Philly Runners. A 1-2 finish. (This fucking underline popped up when I was making a link and now I can't get rid of it so I am not going to worry about it) Seebo finished 2nd in the race which I think was a big improvement from last year. Surprisingly my time was good enough for a 1st place finish in my new and improved 30-34 age group. My best race finish to date.

My time was not a PR, that being 18:20, but it was only my second 5K under 19 and it came after a long week of running. I am happy with it. Hopefully I'll hit a 5K PR after the marathon.

The week was 64.4 miles, my biggest yet by a whopping o.4 miles. 1 More week of training in which I hope to hit 70 miles and then it is time for taper. I am looking forward to it.


In other news I was able to find Ian's Berlin finish info on the web. A 1:22 1st half and a 1:31:30 second half for a 2:54:08 Maybe he had a little trouble in the second half or maybe he grabbed to many beers from those germans on the course. Congratulations on another good finish.