This race was a long time coming. I have this sort of weird, hard-wired tendency to do things backwards or the hard way, and sometimes both. Case in point: my very first road race was a half marathon, followed by a full marathon for race #2. To this day, I’ve raced more full marathons (15) than halfs (5), only (1) 10K, and I completely skipped the typical first step of the 5K. (Similarly, I skipped the 50K, and went straight to the 50 mile when I got started with ultras). While I’ve run shorter distances at track races, including a track 5K race, and loads of unofficial 3.1s as a benchmark, I had never run an official 5K road race. I planned to change this last year before everything got cancelled, but then I didn’t want my first 5K to be virtual. What’s waiting another year when I’d put it off this long, right?
The funny thing about putting something off is that it can steam roll in significance. I let it accumulate extra baggage and pressure, like I needed to have a super impressive debut 5K. I told my coach a couple of months ago I was interested in this race as part of my Sioux Falls Marathon/Indiana Trail 50 build up, but then I stalled on registering. I was psyching myself out. My thoughts were not helpful.
Maybe I should wait until I could do a 5K-focused training block.
I might really crash and burn since I haven’t been speed-focused.
The weather looks crappy. It might get delayed by thunderstorms.
The negativity was wearing me down, and I worked to redirect it. Since May, my workouts have been marathon-specific. I decided to wait and see how the 5K-specific workout my coach planned for me the Tuesday before the race went. The prescribed workout was 12×200 meter repeats and I found myself cruising under my target 5K pace, even in full sun on a hot day. It gave me confidence, but 200 meters is not the same thing as a mile, much less 3.1 of them. On Thursday, I decided to run my planned 6-miler as a progression. I just wanted to see: could I hold my target 5K pace (7:05) for a full mile? For my final mile of the progression, I came in at 7:06. Close enough! This was a good way to build confidence without totally wearing myself out in the process.
It helped me decide to just go for it and to find joy in this period of returning to racing. This race also served as the USATF Indiana 5K Championships, so as a member, I entered into that pool as well. I set goals for the race, but it didn’t really matter where I landed. I could train for a faster 5K some other time without the added pressure of it being the first. My race goals:
🔹 A goal: Finish in 22:00/7:05 pace, :30 faster than my unofficial personal best
🔹 B goal: Finish in 22:30/7:15 pace, matching my unofficial PB
🔹 C goal: Anything sub-goal marathon pace, which for Sioux Falls is 3:25/7:49 minute miles
And I also had two non-time goals:
🔹 Place in the top 3 Women’s Masters for the USATF Championship
🔹 Make marathon pace feel easier
After watching the forecast and expecting thunderstorms all week, the weather ended up being perfect on race morning. I got there extra early while pink still streaked the sky. I had plenty of time to get settled, run my 2 mile warm up, and get in some strides and leg swings. My athlete Ronald was there for the 10-mile race, and I got to chat with him before things kicked off. He was in the same boat as me: running a non-goal race as a part of a build. I found myself giving him the advice I gave myself about removing pressure and racing for fun.
There was a pretty small field, maybe 100 people, and just enough that placing isn’t inevitable. We started in waves, with the 10-milers and those expected to do 21:00 or less in wave 1, other runners in wave 2, and walkers in wave 3. My times put me in wave 2, though just barely. I was pleasantly surprised my wave got out so fast. Getting up to speed felt easy. I spent all of mile 1 waiting for a burn that didn’t come until much later. My coach Anna was there cheering my name on one of the early turns, which gave me a little extra boost. There are a lot of tight turns in the first mile that can slow you down, but I still hit my target. My watch beeped at 7:04.
For most of mile 2, I was still in a groove. The burn had not yet arrived. I passed Ronald on the course and gave him a quick cheer. Aside from running over a slick metal grate half way through the mile, it was otherwise uneventful. Smooth and controlled. My watch clocked a 7:02.
Mile 3, the burn finally came. There were a couple of runners ahead that I used as motivation. Just catch those two… I also realized my watch was probably off, as it often is. That made it hard to know exactly where I stood, but I could tell I had slowed, just a little.
My watch beeped 7:10. I felt sort of bummed, but picked up the pace. Home stretch. I came to the final turn, and a ramp back up toward the finish. As I cruised through, I saw my coach on the sidelines cheering for me again. It was over before I knew it. Hard, yes, but for this serial marathoner, it also felt almost like a little snack of a race.
The initial results were kind of confusing. My GPS short-changed me again. It had me running 3.05 in 21:34. The official race result initially read 22:07, but that was gun time, not chip time. I went in wave 2, which started :30 after gun time. It took a while for results to update with chip times, and I did even better than I thought.
Final result: 21:32 for 6:57 pace.
I placed 1st in my age division for USATF, and with age-grading was 3rd masters woman. I surpassed my A goal and met my non-time goals too! There were no medals for finishers (no t-shirts either so don’t sign up expecting tons of perks—it’s a fun and very well run race, but no frills as it is primarily a fundraiser for the Joseph Maley Foundation). Since I placed 1st in my division, I did get a pretty sweet medal from USATF though—score!
After the race, I got in a quick two-mile cool down. I really enjoyed being back downtown for a run. I haven’t run the canal much since the start of the pandemic. I stayed after to see Ronald finish so I could cheer for him. He placed 11th and met his time goal for the day!
I almost talked myself out of racing this. My training has been focused on marathon and ultra prep. I hadn’t seen sub-7 paces outside of strides for a while. In the end, I decided to just show up to see what was possible, and I’m so glad I did. Reminder self: be open to surprise.
The details:
Joseph Maley Foundation 5K / USATF Indiana 5K Championships
July 10, 2021
5K #1
Weather: 65 degrees at the start, cloudy, 89% humidity
Official time 21:32