I'll pretend that course was accurate

The last two weeks have seen a good start to the new year.  I've raced twice in the last two weeks.  The last year ended with a race on New Year's Eve with my hometown Twilight Run 5K.  I had not run this race since high school, and they had changed the course since that time.  The race is run at Lakemont Park.  Each year around the holidays, the park sets up a light display within the park through which cars can drive through so passengers can get a nostalgic holiday feeling as they observe Christmas lights and listen to holiday music.  Unfortunately, that nostalgic holiday feeling works differently with a race.  The course starts outside of the park, runs about a quarter mile into it, does three loops around the park, and exits a quarter-mile to the finish.  The big challenge of the course is that there is also a 2 mile race that starts very soon after the start of the 5K, so dodging through groups of people on a fairly-narrow course made for a fun time.  There isn't a whole lot to report about this race, except that it was somewhat muddy and very cold, there was a lot of pushing and shoving, I barely won, and I got this very deceiving picture at the finish:

Finishing the Twilight Run 5K with a huge "PR"!  Credit: Hollidaysburg YMCA

The race organizers had warned that the course was fast and short, and it lived up to expectations.  If it had been a certified course, it would have been a 64 second PR (my official time was 14:47). Nevertheless, it gave me some confidence heading into the new year.

Training went well for the next two weeks up to the third Freezeroo race, the Pineway Ponds 5 Mile.  I had a few good workouts in the previous week, and I felt that I could pull out a sub-27 minute race and a PR.  Either that or I'd still not be too recovered from the workouts and blow up.

I woke up race morning feeling surprisingly rested for a week with less sleep than I'd like.  Dave, Josh, Matt, and I had decided a few days before to go out at 5:20 pace for a mile or two and see what happens after that. I was truly hoping to stick to that and run a fast race.  Unfortunately, the morning also presented some winds and rain, despite mild temperatures.  In addition, some ice was also still on the course, and we were warned multiple times about the finish being "dicey".   

Being warned about dicey conditions.  Credit: Rochester Runner Pics

I overestimated how good I felt early in the race.  I started the race feeling very confident and threw little concern to how fast I was going, and I became "that guy" who pushes the pace.  One mile and 5 minutes and 5 seconds later, Dave said something along the lines of "Out a little too fast", to which I responded "Yeah...".  About a half of a mile later, Dave started to pull away, and I tried to hold my best.  Any attempt to catch back up was quickly thwarted by the wind.  Despite slowing down greatly over the course of the race (except for a somewhat quick last mile), I came through the finish in 26:46, good enough for a 9 second PR for a 5 mile race.  Although it could have been a better PR had I employed a better race strategy, I am by no means disappointed.

Trying to finish strong.  Credit: Rochester Runner Pics

So what's next?   In addition to continuing to build my mileage in preparation for more hardcore marathon training, I plan to run at least one indoor 5K in the next 3 weeks. I missed the Holiday Classic this year, and I feel that it's time to return to the track; I have not run a track race (indoor or outdoor) in almost three years.  I have a good shot to run a fast 5K and maybe whittle my actual 5K PR down a little bit more.