Santa Shuffle 5k

So this past weekend, Carena and I went out to visit our friends Jenny and Doug in Chicago, and we raced in the Santa Shuffle 5k.  It was a balmy 20-25 degrees or so when the race started, and the sun was out and shining.  The weather was far better than you could hope to expect for a race in December.

I didn't feel like I was going to perform too well, seeing as I hadn't slept well and had the not-so-healthy race eve meal of a Hardee's Thickburger.  We got there with plenty of time to spare, so we got our Santa hats and beards, along with our pseudo-Santa outfits, which were just silk screened long-sleeve shirts.

I lined up at the front of the 7-9 minute mile pace group.  The gun went off, and off we went.  It wasn't too bad as far as crowds go, but yet again, several people started too far ahead of where they should have and slowed me down a bit.  Nevertheless, I passed the 1st mile marker in exactly 7:00 (which would actually be 6:50 in chip time).  Feeling good, I kept up the pace even though it was faster than I had expected to run.  Approaching the second mile marker, I saw that the first two digits on the clock were 12.  I crossed the marker just as it turn to 13:00.  I couldn't believe it! I had just run a 6:00 mile!  Thinking I might be overexerting myself, I slowed my pace just a little bit.  I had hoped to run at 7:15 per mile, but this was just too incredible.  I didn't want to take the chance of ruining my so far spectacular race by running out of steam too early, so I eased up.  Then, as I approached the finish line and the clock came into view, I saw the timer: 22:35.  What!?!?!? I thought to myself.  I did the last mile in 9:35!?!?  I crossed the finish line as the clock read 22:52.  It turns out that the clock for the second mile marker was too fast, and I hadn't run a spectacular 2nd mile, and I shouldn't have slowed down for my third.  In the end, I'm guessing the 2nd mile was around 7:15, and the 3rd mile around 7:30.  I don't really think it affected my performance by all that much, maybe 10-15 seconds, but it was more the fact that I thought I was running out of my gourd with a finishing time beyond my wildest expectations that bothered me.  I was so impressed with myself, only to come back to reality.  If I hadn't had a glimpse of a sub-21 minute 5k, I would've been ecstatic about my time (and now that it's had time to sink in, I am), but it kinda spoiled the result for me for a couple hours.

In the end, my chip time was 22:42, giving me an average pace of 7:19 per mile, a good 18 seconds under my goal time of 23:00.  In a 5k, 18 seconds is quite a bit, so I kinda blew my goal out of the water.  This race time shows me that my fitness has improved and it's time to adjust my training paces accordingly.  For the next month or so, my Easy pace will be 9:37 (I'm not that strict on Easy, somewhere between 9:10 and 9:30 is fine), my Threshold pace will be 7:42, and my Interval pace will be 7:07.  It's time to get back to work.