I went out with Kelly and our 1.5 year old Dingo Delilah for a 5k on the CSU campus today. This is a race put on by the CSU Veterinary DVM class of 2014, and pets are encouraged to run with owners. Proceeds go to the Veterinary teaching hospital community assistance fund. This fund helps families in need pay for vet care at the hospital...So a fantastic cause in my book.
It just so happens that Jenn Malmberg (Classmate of Kelly's in the Vet program) was the Race Director for this race. Jenn and her husband Sam are very fast runners who I met at the race I organized earlier this month. In fact, Jenn took 3rd overall Female at the Horsetooth Half Marathon last weekend and Sam routinely podiums at every race I see him run.
It was snowing lightly with temps in the high 30's at race time. In line to pick up our race packet I spotted Nick Clark, a local Ultra Runner who ran our 5k a few weeks back. Nick is a very talented runner who also has an awesome running blog you should follow. Click Here for Nick's Blog. I said hi to him and congratulated him on his 3rd place finish at the American River 50 mile Ultra race a couple weeks ago in California. He said he was running with his dog today and I got the impression this was just a fun morning out for him.
Anyway, enough name dropping....here's my race report...
I had a goal of sub 25 minutes and a secondary goal of of pacing under 8 minute miles for the entire course. I had never seen 7:xx's as an average in a race but I felt good today. I started out quick for me and hit mile 1 at 7:40. I did not think I could hold that pace so I settled down and tried to coast for the second mile. I hit mile 2 at 15:50 so I knew I was right on pace for my goal and I just tried to hold on for the last mile plus. Right around this point in the race I realized that I had never actually run a stand alone 5k race before so I did not have a well thought out strategy except for running as fast as I could without passing out.
This "strategy" almost came back to bite me as I felt awful coming down the stretch. I knew I had 25 minutes beat and I was close to the 7:xx's goal as well, but I really thought I was going to puke coming to the finish line. I had images in my head of how funny it would be to see a middle aged dude throw up at a fun run, so I eased off just a tad and crossed the line in 24:48. Good enough for both goals....a 7:58/mile average!
Feeling pretty good about myself for not losing my breakfast, I cooled off and watched Kelly come in at 28:30...a great time for her as she is even newer to running than me and has been hurt lately so has not trained much. She beat her 5k PR by over 3 minutes! She is a natural and if she starts training more she will be faster than me by next year, so I'm enjoying beating her while I can.
We watched our friend and Kelly's classmate Alexis come in for her first 5k finish and then checked out the expo and went home. A great morning and a great race. A bonus: our Dingo was on her best behavior and only snapped at 1 dog the whole time!
Official Results
Pics to come...
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