Thursday, October 02, 2008

Pratt and Whitney 3.27 Mile

My plan was to go fo my PR so I could do the Half-Marathon in 9 days as a walk run. I thought I could do it as it would be cool with a flat course.

We ran around Rentsler Field Stadium where the UCONN football team plays and then ran out along two abandoned runways and back. At mile one, which seemed to take awhile to get to, my time was 10:36, which seemed inconcievable to me. Talk about being bummed out. I felt tired, but thought I was moving along at a decent pace. Then I ran past a Mile 2 sign on the ground about 8 minutes later, and then a little beyond then I passed another mile 2 marker where a guy called out my time as 19:40, which meant my second mile was in 9:01. I was real tired on the homestretch, which again seemed long and I had almost no kick. I was really depressed to see the finishinging clock. 30:12. So much for improving. A second over 30:00 performance. I felt a little better to hear everyone grumbling at the finish about the course being long. I got a couple drinks, a banana, some peanuts, and then headed home.

I was pleased when I just went to the results page to see the race is now listed as a 3.27 miles instead of a 5K. That's almost 300 extra yards. My corrected mile pace is 9:14, which would give me a 5K of 28.37 which is a new PR. In the Huck Finn 5K last year I finished in 28:54 or a 9:19 pace.

Still I feel a bit cheated for not knowing my accurate times as I was running and not having an official 5K finish.

Results

Overall I finished 143 out of 193 and 24 out of 28th in my age group. I do notice the older you get the more serious the runner. Had I been 40 I would have been 29 out of 40, had I been 30 I would have been 29 out of 36. Most people running at 50 are serious and not just some guys who think they can run a 5K.

Undecided about my course of action for the marathon day, the 1/2 as a hike or go for speed in the 5K.

I posted on this race at the HEAT forum:

HEAT