For the last several years, I've been making an effort (between my various other running endeavors) to run a sub-20-minute 5k. I've run sub-20 many times before, but the last time I did was in 2016 at the Runway 5K in Charlotte, at the age of 49. I haven't done it once since I turned 50.
For the last several months, in support of that effort, I've been making an effort to shed some weight. I gained quite a bit of weight last summer as we traveled in the Northwest for 6 weeks with relatively little opportunity for me to exercise. I've managed to shed 15 pounds since then and am currently the lightest I have been since 2016 (I don't really keep records of my weight so that's a bit of a guess). But I did use an app to help with the weight loss effort this time so I have tracked my weight pretty consistently for the last six months. Here's a graph of my progress:
I ran a 5k on February 1 and got a 20:39. Having lost 5 pounds since then and feeling pretty good about my training, I figured today would be a good day to try another one: my favorite road race for fast 5ks in the area, the Little Sugar Creek Parkrun. It's free, nearly pancake-flat and is an honest 5k distance.
My friend Chas also wanted to do the race today, so we met at the course this morning 40 minutes before the event. After a 2-mile warmup together, it was time to change into my race shoes, do a few strides, and get ready to race.
After a quick intro from the race director, we were started with a "3-2-1-Go!" and off we went.
I had chatted with some online friends before the race to decide whether to run conservatively or start right out at sub-20 pace. The consensus: GO FOR IT!
As I started out I began to regret this decision. I was thinking "this is insane. There is no way I'm going to come anywhere close to my sub-20." Then around 800 meters in I looked at my watch. I was running 6:07 pace -- I only need a 6:26 for sub-20. There were three runners ahead of me: Chas, the legendary local runner Chuck Engle (who has run over 500 marathons, typically sub-3 hours), and another guy who I'm calling "Da-Da" because he ran past his son at the start, who cheerfully yelled "GO DA-DA." Chas and Chuck were quickly vanishing into the distance but I was maintaining a bit of contact with Da-Da.
I decided to back off a little bit and let Da-Da increase his lead on me. Da-Da must have also felt he went out too fast because he wasn't gaining much ground. I got through Mile 1 in 6:21.
I managed to keep the pace right around 6:26 per mile until we reached the bridge halfway through the race. The course turns sharply right, crosses the bridge, then does a 180 turn and crosses back and does a sharp left to head back to the start. This slowed me down; I was now running about a 6:30 pace. Da-Da was stubbornly about 30 meters ahead of me. I finished Mile 2 in 6:30. So if I was going to get my sub-20 I was going to need to pick the pace back up to 6:26 for the remainder of the race.
Unfortunately my body didn't seem to want to go that fast. I was gasping for every breath, and Da-Da gradually increased his gap on me. I negotiated with myself and settled on a 6:40 pace. Somehow I held this through the end of Mile 3. Just 0.1 to go! I turned the final corner toward the finish and gave it everything I had. I think that was roughly the 6:26 I should have been running for the last mile. I held on through the finish line and stopped my watch at 20:14.
While this wasn't sub-20, as it turns out this was my best 5k since I turned 50. I think I just might be able to crack that sub-20 this season. The only challenge is that my next big event is an epic trail run in the Grand Canyon. On March 21 I'm planning to do a 30+ mile run from the South Rim, across the river, up to Ribbon Falls halfway up the North side of the canyon, and back. So my next 5k likely won't be until April, and who knows what the Grand Canyon run will take out of me! I will do what I can to recover as quickly as possible from the Grand Canyon, and I should have time to do a couple more 5ks in late spring. So it won't be easy, but it will definitely be a good experience no matter what. What's the point of running if you don't try epic things?
