Standing in the corral, I overheard a lot of talk about it not being a good day for a PR. It was cold, rainy and windy, but it still seemed to me like a decent day to run. I know that heat slows me down, and really, really cold temps are tough, but I didn't really know what effect today's weather would have.
Technically, to PR I would have to beat the 6:43 pace that I ran at last year's 8000. Really though, my 5 mile best of 6:37/mile was the mark to beat (8 kilometers = 4.97096954 miles).
At the sound of the horn, I went out at what felt like a brisk pace. As we crossed the transverse, a big gust of wind hit us from the north. A few seconds later, we turned south, and the wind was at our backs. My first mile clocked at 6:43 -- exactly my PR from last year's 8000. The next mile was downhill, and the pace improved to 6:24. I was cheered on by a gaggle of Flyers, and in mile three, more or less flat, I ran 6:34. Things were looking up.
We turned north just before the 3 mile mark, so we were facing a substantial headwinds along with tough hills. I knew that I would lose some time, but I was still surprised to see my mile 4 split of 6:57. I got a boost from another (even bigger) cheer from the group of Flyers, who were running the other way, and the last 0.97 miles came in at 6:38.
My official time was 33:16 (6:41/mile). This was an 8K PR, but was 10 seconds off my 5 mile best (33:06), even though 8K is slightly shorter.
So, the question is.... how much does rain and wind matter? I certainly noticed the headwind, but did it really slow me down? And didn't the tailwind make up for it? When I got home, my shoes were pretty wet... that could make a difference.
One thing the weather did not mess up was the pleasure of racing. I gave it my all and had a lot of fun, so I'm going to call it a good day and leave it at that.
Posts
4 comments:
If you had fun, consider it a wind. And, you definitely do have to take into account the wind. I'm guessing it slowed us all down a bit more in miles 4-5 than it helped early on.
John is way too modest. The wind and rain slowed everyone down. We cheered John in both the first and last miles. He was way out in front and running strong both times! He was the first Flyer finisher!
John, congrats on a great race time. The wind was brutal from mile 4 to the end. I felt like I was barely making progress against the wind. I definitely did not feel like I got any benefit from the wind at our backs for the first 2 miles.
great race- good to see all the hardcore folks out there (as well as volunteers) braving through the elements. PR is still a PR; congrats!
Post a Comment