RACE REPORT - Albany YMCA 5k

Here is my race report in email form, as sent to a friend:

I raced this morning at a local 5K put on by the YMCA which took place at Washington Park, located a mere two blocks from my doorstep. I did a recon run of the course on Thursday and found that it was considerably more hilly than I had originally anticipated. In fact, I only made it through 2 miles of the recon run and called it a day out of frustration (and perhaps tired legs from the previous day's bike workout). Never-the-less, I raced this morning.

To back up a bit, about a month ago, my wife's co-worker, an Ohio State alum and overly cocky goatee-ridden man, also signed up to run the race. He asked me how fast I thought I could run it in and I threw out 7:30 min/mile averages (although my current PR stood at a 7:42 min/mile). He said that's about where he was at too and the race was officially "on" from there. I had nailed a few 7:24 min/mile averages in training leading up to the race so I felt good, but not confident that I had anything close to a win wrapped up by ANY means.

Fast forward to race-morning and I meet up with him at the park and exchange pleasantries. He's dressed in his scarlet and gray and me in my U of M tech shirt. I notice he isn't wearing a watch so I offer to pace for us both since I had on my Garmin Forerunner 305. He agrees, but says he'd love to shoot for finishing the 5K in 22:00, or less!!.. I didn't want to show my hand so I just said "sounds good" and went from there. 

The course map. My house is just less than 2 blocks away!

Other than the fact that the race course was FULL of rolling hills, it was relatively uneventful until about 0.5 miles remaining, all the while maintaining an unbelievable 7:00 min/mile pace. Around that point, mr. OSU started to drop off the back ever so slightly. The elastic stretched to about 20 feet, but didn't break... and then I heard him start to heave and gallop back towards me. At that point, I knew what I had to do. I waited until he was almost back up near my shoulder and then just as he got close.. I BOLTED! The elastic snapped!! I heard the sound of gargled frustration as he faded behind me. It was 0.25 miles to the finish line and I sprinted home uncontested.

Official time: 20:56  (11th out of 125 or so)

Here is the data from my Garmin Forerunner 305

 My wife said the guy was super bashful at work the following Monday morning, but still said he wants a rematch (because he didn't realize I had already run a half-marathon this year and perhaps that gave me a secret advantage..?). To his credit, I don't see myself getting anywhere near that time without having him to race against. I guess this means I'll have to find a flatter course and then invite him for a rematch. Unfortunately, I don't see a convenient 5K in my future until after the marathon. Never-the-less, I do want to say that it was really nice to actually race someone as opposed to just competing against myself for the best time. Hurray for my overwhelming sense of competitiveness!

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There ya go! Another PR in the books for 2011! Stay tuned for my post on a recent bike-touring trip, fondly referred to as the 2011 Tour of the Donkeys!