Greek Fest Recap

Total Time: 67:29
Distance: 9.29 miles
Race: 15:20, 1st

W/u: 26:23 for 3.11 miles
C/d: 25:46 for 3.08 miles

I'm not sure what happened out there today. It certainly wasn't the race performance that I was hoping for. I had contacted some of the areas faster runners asking if they would be around for the race and neither Ryan Woods or Bert Rodriguez were in town. I needed some motivation to get me under the 15:00 barrier so I posted to my Facebook page that I would run 14:54 with splits of 4:44, 4:49, 4:50, :31. The course was primed for some fast times and the weather was decent, though not as cool as promised.

I started my warm up well in advance and went on a slow shuffle over the course. I was feeling pretty solid prior to racing and was taking mental notes of where the pace could potentially slip during the race. I picked points that needed to be focused on and sections to really open up the stride. I ran into Stephen Spada and Richard "Rocky" Falcone about 1.5 miles into the warm up and we finished the rest of the course together.

Splits (based on clocks during race and my memory):
4:45, 4:55 (9:40), 5:05? (14:45), :35 (15:20)

Rocky and I out hard on the right hand side of the road. Look at those other suckers on the left hand side.
Mike Beigay took some awesome shots of the race.

I lined up for the race on the right hand section of the road with Danielle & Chad Crockford. A bunch of CRC runners lined up on the opposite side which puzzled me. I got out relatively hard on the slight downhill along East Blvd. Rocky Falcone was just off my shoulder for the first 800-1000m. During the first time around the Dilworth Speed Loop I tried to relax and maintain pace. It was a little unsettling to see all the baby joggers in the neighborhood. The parents and tykes were released a full 5 minutes prior to the runners which strung them out a good way. I didn't catch Chris Bradle until after 1.5 miles. Usually I'm not worried about the baby joggers after 1000m or so.

Baby jogger who went out pretty hard, still smiling though. Thanks for the 5 minute head start I was still passing beyond the mile point.

I was pretty much spot on with my first mile split. I was feeling good and focused on not letting up the pace. I picked up the effort turning on Park and then relaxed on the false flat along Kingston. I knew the 600m on Kingston would be slow, but I hoped to get that time back on Worthington. I think what happened was that my first 800m of the race was run somewhere around 2:15-2:17 and then I backed off to hit the mile in 4:45. When I picked it up I was only running just under 5 minute pace and then things lagged. My second mile split was about 7-10 seconds off despite my best effort to fly down Worthington. That was frustrating to see.

Coming back near the Dilworth Speed Loop. Just after or before the 2 mile mark.

As I entered the Dilworth Speed Loop for the second time I started to fatigue and couldn't get rolling. I knew sub-15 minutes was out the window so I backed off. I ran pretty comfortably until I reached East Blvd and took a quick glance over my shoulder. I was a little surprised to see that Rocky (who is 40 by the way) was having a great race as he was still in sight. I refocused and ran the final 2 minutes of the race hard again. The 3 mile split was about 14:45 and then I coasted to the finish.

About 50 meters from the finish line. Not even worth racing the clock at this point.

I'm disappointed I ran 2 seconds slower on today's course than I did at Blue Points 5k. It was great seeing all the PRs out there this morning. Billy Shue, Brian McMahon, Alice Rogers, Pezz, Danielle all ran great. Being one of the few people not to hit their goal is tough to swallow. I probably put in too many miles last week (107) to be fresh for a 5k today. Oh well. I know I'm still fit and willing to take a challenge.

At least the Karhu shoes and Craft singlet look cool even if the time doesn't.

I shouldn't be too hard on myself as Charlotte has lost two of its most talented female runners for the next few weeks. Both Megan Hovis (M1) and Meagan Nedlo (M2) are suffering from ailments.