Sunday, March 11, 2007

Race report: Bazan Bay 5K

A soggy morning, wet streets, didn't keep over 1100 runners from the streets of Sidney. The rain was coming down hard at times and then lessened after the race was done (of course). Driving to the event on the highway gave the impression it was a hurricane outside.

I finished 52nd overall and 6th in my age category in a time of 18:11. This is a PB for me, mainly for the fact this is the first 5K I've raced in several years. The last time I remember doing a 5K race, I ran it in something like 19:15.
The race went well, given the conditions; besides the rain and the abundance of water, there was a slight head-wind off Bazan Bay. I was hoping to go below 18:00, but it didn't happen today. I have no doubt it will come, if I keep my level of training up. I'm determined it will happen.

I felt strong during the run, my legs in particular felt good. The two days off running before this morning allowed them to go into Elvis Presley mode: they were ready and willing to rock and roll. I didn't check my splits during the race, but felt like I took the first k hard, and perhaps was lulled a bit between 2K-3.5k into a slightly slower pace. I picked up the pace in the last k, and with 200m to go, I put the hammer down. Overall, I was happy with my pacing, but I'm sure I can go faster. I think this would have been a wonderful/ideal 10k pace for me (excepting the last 200m), if I were to add a few seconds on each 5K. I need to work on my speed a bit for the 5K distance. Also, doing some 5K races will help! It was a fast course, but there were two points that slowed things down a bit, the first was a sharp corner that made everyone slow down, and the turn-around point at a pylon. These slowed me down, but not by the 12 seconds I needed.

My sister Jill had a great run and she was the second place finisher for Team Behan. I think she left everything on the road. She tallied one point for our team but was disappointed that some of her rivals beat her to the line. Jill has a great spirit that I wish I had more of. Way to go Jilly!

Complete results are here

4 comments:

Michael said...

Congratulations on a great race today!

Anonymous said...

I am pretty proud to finish second place for Team Behan. Woohoo!
Next year we will have to recruit more members.
JM

Eric said...

Excellent run! You'll get under 18 soon enough with a bit more racing.

Anonymous said...

Great job Team Behan!!!

Patrick