The Boulder Dash 5K, a fun little run in the northern suburbs of Atlanta. The race course, which runs from Northside Hospital Forsyth through the LaFarge Aggregates Quarry, makes for a very interesting run. This was the largest race I have run in so far, with 1200 people lined up at the start. A lot of the people were walking so my group and field placement are a little skewed from a normal race. The volunteers were incredible as always. My goal for this race was to finish around 28:30 with a pace in the low 9's. Boy I surprised myself. I tried to start relatively slow but the crowd and the hills didn't really cooperate. I still have a problem with starting way too fast. This time was no different. I let the crowd push my pace and paid for it on the last hill to the finish line. The run felt really good though. I crossed the first mile marker at 8:04 thinking "wow that is way too fast and I've got to slow down". So I slow a bit helped by the steep hill entering the quarry. Of course I sped right back on on the other side. This was the site of the finish line about three/quarters of the way up the hill. The course proceeded around the periphery of the quarry and looped back on the entrance road. About halfway around the loop was the 2 mile marker, I cruised by it with an interval of 8:40. I was fine at this pace for the rest of the loop and then started the climb back to the finish line. I knew I was going pretty fast but the hill was just a little too much to late for me to tackle without slowing some more. I missed the 3 mile sign so I didn't get a 3 mile interval time. I decided here that I was just going to try my best keep my speed going in and see where it ended up. That was fine until I could make out the numbers on the clock. The first two number were 2 and 6. Oh man that kicked in the adrenaline. I had to finish below 27. I pushed it in and crossed as the clock said 26:5x something. I didn't know where until I got the official results. I was so happy, I forgot to stop my watch also. My intent was not to run this race this fast, just get a fun run and see where I was at so I could really see how low I could go next month at the Brookhaven Bolt, which is run in my neighborhood on the route that I run and walk everyday. So we will see how next month goes.
I learned several things this race. First, PACING, PACING, PACING - a slower first mile would have let me finish stronger. Its common sense to save some for the end but its so dang hard to let everyone go by at the beginning and I just get too caught up in the crowd. Second, I can go faster than I give myself credit for. Since I am still learned the details of distance running, I don't have confidence in running fast or letting myself work a little harder. With a little work on pacing and confidence, I think one day a might be able to call myself a runner.
| RACING RESULTS | |
| Date: | 28/Apr/12 |
|---|---|
| Type: | Race |
| Course: | Boulder Dash - Cumming |
| Distance: | 5 kilometers |
| Duration: | 26:56 |
| Pace: | 8:41 / mile |
| Equipment: | New Balance M730 (Black 730) |
| Weight: | 194.8 lb |
| Misc: | Quality: 10/10, Effort: 8/10 |
| Field Placement: | 166 / 1209 (13.7%) |
| Age group: | 40 – 44 |
| Group Placement: | 19 / 83 (22.9%) |
| Weather: | Sunny |
| Notes: | Boulder Dash - Cumming
Its the official time now!!!!! |
| Statistics: | Calories: 458 VO2 Max: 35.1 |
| Intervals (Boulder Dash 2012) | ||||||||
| Type | Distance | Time | Total Time | Pace | Avg HR | Max HR | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Interval | 1 mi | 8:04.54 | 8:04.54 | 8:05 | |||
| 2 | Interval | 1 mi | 8:40.97 | 16:45.51 | 8:41 | |||
| 3 | Interval | 1.1 mi | 10:10.49 | 26:56 | 9:15 | |||
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