What can I say, today seemed like a good day for a race. Good thing since I was racing today. I know it seems like I race every weekend, but this is the last one until the marathon in September. At least I think that it will be, unless a race comes along that I can't refuse. Maybe something like a 10K or something a little bit different. I digress though, this is my race report for the Ashland Balloonfest 5K, which went down this morning. To start off the morning there was a pretty robust thunderstorm, which was finished by 7:00 AM. It was nice since it cooled the heat off a little and brought some nice cooling winds with it. By 8:00 I was picking up my packet and getting everything pinned and secured in its place.
Then it was off to meet up with an old friend that I had not seen in years, he was the reason that I signed up to run this race. We stood around and chatted while waiting for the race to start, and soon enough we were making our way to the starting area. Where we were required to listen to the basic pre race instructions followed by some words of encouragement from miss Ohio. Then the race starts with a bang, and I mean a really BIG bang. They started the race with a freakin' cannon. A full fledged old school cannon, complete with massive amounts of smoke and everything.  |
| Kind of like this one. |
What a blast! Over the start pad and down the street we go. At the first turn some nice people were misting a garden hose for us to run through which was a refreshing treat. As I came up to the mile counter clock I was surprised to see that I had just done a 6:30 mile. Immediately I was both elated and scared. I felt strong, and didn't feel any signs of slowing. However, the sun had come out and it was warming up. By mile two I had slowed to a 7:30 pace, and by mile 2.5 I was having doubts about finishing as a runner. The mist from the garden hose gave me hope for the finish, but that soon was replaced with doubt again. Then I passed on to the track for my lap to the finish, and I knew that I would finish. Entering the first turn on to the main part of the track we had to run past the finish. That is all kinds of cruel, but I trudged on as what seem as an ever diminishing pace. I thought for sure that there was no way I was going to do anything better than my usual 5K time. Disappointed I was, but not defeated. Out of nowhere my body kicked into overdrive as I entered the third and final turn. I dusted those people that just passed me like they were standing still. What happened? Where did this effortless kick come from? I don't know for sure, but I am not gonna complain. Once I caught sight of the finish line ticker I realized that I was going to rock this race after all. I passed over the finish with a new PR. When all was said and done I would have PR'd the race by 29 seconds. Before I left for this race I told my wife that I was going to run this race till I puked, and that statement almost came true in between getting a couple cup of water and getting a slice of watermelon.
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| Post race! |
It was a good race, but the heat left me feeling a bit wonky the rest of the day. I am happy with my performance. I knew going in that there was little chance of getting any kind of award as the top ten placers were all under 20 minutes and have been for at least the past 4 years. Look forward to running this one again next year.
Official time -- 23:34/7:33 avg. pace
Overall -- 111/426
Age group -- 8/27
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