My Sixth 5K

I did the Seaside 5K on Sunday October 16, 2005 with my brother. It was my brother's first 5K in a long time, but he's been running on and off for 20 years. He was starting to get nervous that I might beat him which was a pretty cool thought. The course was really flat - it was out on the boardwalk towards Seaside Park and then back.

When the race started my brother took off like a rocket and I tried to keep up with him for a while which could have been a bad idea. In the Westfield 5K I think one of the main reasons I did poorly was that I tried to catch up with my predefined pace. I got tired too quickly and then had no energy for the rest of the race. But actually, my brother's super fast pace was a good thing. I decided after reaching my peak heart rate very quickly that I would keep up an 8:30/mile pace or better no matter how hard that was going to be. I was hurtin pretty bad by the last mile. But, I just kept pushing. My heart rate monitor was beeping like crazy with messages like "SLOW DOWN - HEART RATE TOO HIGH" and "PLEASE LIE DOWN, YOU'RE ABOUT TO DIE".

There were drifts of sand on the boardwalk that would just suck the momentum out of you when you landed on them. Also, the air was really salty and made my throat dry very fast. I also had to stop to tie my shoes.

Even with all that my time was something like 25:22 which is 2 MINUTES faster than my best time. This is an 8:10/mile pace. I don't know exactly what my time was because the race, which was organized by the Ocean Running Club, didn't use a chip timing system and they still haven't posted any results. I contacted the race organizer and he told me:

"The timer that we were going to use for the 5k broke when we started the race so we had to score it mannually."

I think they were only concerned with handing out the trophies, not the results for everyone. I'm relying on my stopwatch and the now suspect large timer at the finish line for my estimate. I'm a little bummed about not having an official time. I've decided to boycott races that don't use a chip timing system. This is in addition to the existing boycott of races that don't have online registration. I'll just have to beat this unverifiable time in my next race. If you want to join me, my next race is:

Somerset Home's 7th Annual Run For Runaways 5K - Saturday, November 5, 2005

I did this race last year. It's pretty nice because it's flat and they had timers at each mile. It goes through the woods and the post-race BBQ is pretty decent. It's also cool because my friends, Rob and Tierney, help with the race.

My goal is to have a sub 8:00/mile pace for this race. This might be tough, but that's the goal.

...and I'm Just Getting Started.