Most of the family joined me today for the Sandy 5k/10k near Sandy city hall. Overall a good experience. To be honest, I ran it solely to try and win the $100. I'm still very much in recovery mode from Saturday's half marathon so my plan was to run just fast enough to win.
The course is mostly flat but there is one steady uphill and one short and steep uphill section. Nothing major. The wind was more of a factor than the hills. There has been a lot of wind here the last few days. Since there were no mile markers for the 10k, I don't really have any splits. The 10kers run the 5k course twice. There's a lot to like about two lap courses and some things not to like. It makes for a lot of dodging and weaving but it's a good mental way to break up the race especially in the absence of mile markers.
After the first mile, I led the whole way. I avoided looking over my shoulder for the first lap once I got into the lead. No point really. Lots of running ahead and I just wanted to focus on running my race. The course is completely closed to traffic which is nice. There is no chip timing which is silly but not a big deal for those in the front. More of a nightmare for the race organizers.
I forgot to hit my lap button at the one lap mark so unforutnately, i don't know how the two 5ks compared. I wish I did. I suspect the second one was slower because it was on the second lap that I really started to feel both the elevation (4500 ft.) and the effects of Saturday's half marathon. Feeling good during easy runs like I did all week has no relevance to how you feel when you run hard. At about mile 4 -- amid the hilly section -- I looked back and my competition was only about 25 yards back. I was really hoping he wasn't that close. I questioned for a moment whether I would be able to hold on. But it turns out that once we got out of the hills, I had actually increased the gap.
By Mile 6 or so you turn onto Centennial Blvd for the final straightaway. It was a pretty strong headwind, but I looked back and I was well ahead of the second place guy so I didn't do any kind of crazy sprint to the finish which made me happy.
So I ended up with a 33:01...would have been nice to have a 32:xx but no worries. I probably won't jump into the Provo Freedom Run on Monday. Calves a still pretty sore and I don't think I will do that well.
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