Torchlight 5k

Wednesday marked the night of the Torchlight 5k through downtown Minneapolis.  My buddy Chris had invited me, so even though I greatly prefer racing in the morning, I decided to go for it.  Besides, it would be a nice replacement for an interval day.  Well... it's a point to point run, meaning you start at one point and end at in a different place.  I parked at the end of the race, which meant I had to walk to the start line.  I was running a little late due to insane traffic, so I ended up getting to my parking spot about 6:45.  Registration was scheduled to end at 7:15, so I ended up running 2 miles to the start at a little faster pace than I would have preferred.  I think it ended up being a decent warmup; I'm not sure it affected my performance, at least not much.  The one thing is I didn't have time to drink any water, and I was parched by the halfway point.  On second thought, maybe it did affect me, but only in hydration and not in actual fatigue.

In order to register, you need your ID, and of course I had to carry my car keys.  Then, after registration, you get your t-shirt.  Luckily, Chris had parked at the start, so we dropped by his car and left our shirts, but it's pretty poor planning if you ask me.  I guess they figure it's a fun run, so people aren't competing for anything, but a large percentage of runners are like me where they're always trying to get a PR.  Even though I knew this wasn't the best race for a fast time, I was still going to try as hard as I could, and I didn't want additional baggage slowing me down.

We lined up pretty close to the front of the pack near the start line, but again, they didn't have it organized very well.  There was no chute keeping runners from starting on the edges and the sidewalk, so once the gun went off, the start moved even slower than it needed to because people were filling in from the sides into the narrower street.  Finally, nobody seems to understand the concept of only starting up front if you're a faster runner.  Again, even though it's a fun run, I would think you'd have some semblance of thought and start near the back if you're going to be walking.  But no... I ended up passing a woman who started on the front line who had a cane!  I wanted to yell at her as I ran by.  I didn't, but I was extremely frustrated by the lack of any thought or consideration for others.

I did the first quarter mile or so at a pace of over 10:00 per mile, which did not help things at all.  Then, once I got a little room, I did the next quarter mile at 6:25 pace, which again, was not particularly wise, as I would find out later in the race.  Then I continued to roll at between 6:55 and 7:10 pace like I had planned, until about mile 2.5.  Here I started feeling the dehydration and the exertion of having to speed up and slow down to navigate the crowds.  I averaged about 7:35 for the half mile from 2.5 to 3.0, even succumbing to mental fatigue and stopping to walk for 2 seconds.  That is something I am not happy about, and I vow will not happen again during a race.  I had just slowed to a walk when a fellow runner implored me to keep going, and my moment of weakness passed and I trudged on.

From there on, I steadily increased my pace and I did the last .1 at under 6:00 pace, so I guess that's a little bit of redemption.  Still, this is the first time I had ever let mental fatigue take over, and it's not a feeling I like.  In the past, I'd have thoughts of slowing down, but I was always able to quell the feeling before it took a strong root.  Anyway, I crossed the finish line with a gun time of 22:50, and a "chip" time (there were no chips, but I started my watch when I crossed the starting line) of 22:22.  My GPS said I had run 3.07 miles, and I'm not sure how it could possibly underestimate the distance I traveled, so I'm not sure the course is a legitimate 5k course.  I thought I had read that it was USATF certified, and I would believe it if my GPS had overestimated, but I cannot conceive how it could underestimate the distance.  Oh well, I'll take it!