Old Settlers Day 5K Race Report 2021

 The week leading up to Old Settlers Day was probably the hottest of the year.  As I semi-tapered, I didn't run anything particularly fast or long but with the heat everything required more effort than I would have liked.  Friday I planned to at least run a shakeout but I spent the whole day cleaning instead and wound up taking the day off.  I wasn't sure how I'd feel on race day but when I woke up Saturday I felt great!  More spring in my legs then I've felt in a while and primed to run.  The hot weather had finally broke too and the temperature was at least reasonable at 65 degrees.

My father was in town for the race and my wife and daughter Maya were signed up too.  It was a family affair.  I woke up at 5:20 to start prepping for the 8 am race.  I split my time walking, jogging with my dad, stretching, nibbling on a bit of food, drinking a couple cups of coffee, waking up the rest of the family and getting them set, putting on my Vaporfly 2's, and then got my own 1.25 warmup in at 7:00 pace.  

We left the house at 7:40 and walked over to the start line.  Had enough time to say hi to a few people and do a couple stride outs before working my way to the far corner of the start line.  I could see some of the more serious runners grouped more to the center of the start line.  At 8 am the fire department set off an alarm to signify the start of the race.  Everyone sort of froze even though the race director clearly told us that would trigger the start.  I was probably only a fraction of a second but time stood still... an then we were off. 

I took off a bit fast but steady.  Within the first couple meters I was in 3rd place behind two of the fastest guys.  By about 400 meters I was still tailing the two leaders.  My watch showed sup 5:30 pace and I knew I needed to back off.  I eased up a bit and found comfortable rhythm.  The leaders pulled away and I was on my own.  There was a sharp right turn at about the 1/2 mile mark and I snuck a glance behind me and saw that I was about 20 meters ahead of the guy in 4th place. The first mile was a strong effort but was sustainable. I got to the mile mark at 5:42.3. 

I hit the back stretch of town still feeling okay.  There were quite a few spectators there and soon after the first water stop...  I turned down water but they helped me sustain my effort.  I cruised down the back 1/2 mile.  At the next turn I was able to sneak another glance behind me and saw that me lead had grown.  I kept the thought of the 4th place runner catching me in the front of my mind and used it as motivation to not slow down.  A couple more turns and another water stop... I turned down more water but waved and smiled as I sped by.  My 2nd mile split was 5:41.

By now my HR was 179 and I was starting to feel it.  The next 1/4 mile was downhill and then I was passing my house.  My step-mother, and 2 daughters Kenna and Nori were outside cheering.  They helped me drive on.  After passing my house the wheels started to fall off a bit.  It was a 1/2 mile stretch down Calhoun St. with no spectators.  The 2nd place runner was over a minute ahead and the 4th place runner was nearly a minute behind.  Anticipating the pain if I kept pushing now, I eased up just a bit knowing I'd still have a 1/4 mile push down the main drag to the finish.  The lull in place was quite apparent.  

As I turned right off of Calhoun I dug deep and started to push again.  One small segment of road and then another quick right on the main drag.  1/4 mile left and I could see the finish line off in the distance.  I hit the 3rd mile with a 5:49 split and then continued to pick up the pace.  I knew if I could finish strong I would be under 18 minutes fairly easily.  I gave a semblance of a kick and crossed the line in 17:53.  

My goal was to break 18.  I trained to break 18. and I broke 18.  I figured I could but you never know if it'll all come together as planned and it's definitely nice when it does.  There might have been a few more seconds I could have shaved off if it was a little cooler and I had some competition but overall I feel like I achieved about the best result I could have expected.

3.11 miles
17:53
5:45 pace

After the race I waited for my dad to finish in 26:30 and then we started backtracking the course until we found Maya and Natalie.  Natalie stuck with Maya and Maya did a good bit of walking but still finished in 43:17. I was third overall and the top 2 finishers got plaques which left me with a 1st place age group medal (2nd in my age group technically since the winner was also in my age group).

I was very happy with the race.  Really felt that I put it out there.  My HR data collaborates my effort.  Long distance running is about as close as I'll ever get to having a superpower.  It's just amazing that anyone (let alone myself) can go out and run 5:45 pace for 3+ miles... also that I could go from 8:15 pace, pretty much completely out of shape in 2016 to 5:45 pace.2 years ago I just wanted to break 20 minutes again.  Now I'm breaking 18... fastest I've been in 24 years.  Don't know if I can ever break 17 again but I'd like to try.  But the closer you get to your peak, the harder it is to improve.  17:30 is the next milestone...

...but for now the 5K is on hold.  I finally signed up for the Peoria Marathon in October and now its time to get serious about getting in some miles.