Summer Solstice 5K

Ran the Summer Solstice tonight which is the 5K around the West Hartford reservoir. I had two goals, beat my last year's time of 29:28 (9:29) and beat my 5K PR of 28:54 (9:20)and maybe even beat my mile pace at last years 3.27 K race at the Pratt and Whitney Airfield of 9:15.

This course is tough because the first mile is slowly uphill, the 2nd has some steep uphill and the last mile is downhill.

I was hoping to run a first mile between 9:00 and 9:15 pace and a second mile between 9:15 and 9:30, and then just let loose on the last mile and a tenth.

It was a beautiful night to run. Not hot, not cool.

I started off steady. I think I probably lost maybe 5 to 10 seconds to cross the start. there were about 150 runners.



I hit the first mile in 9:18 -- a little slow, but maybe on pace considering the start delay and it being somewhat uphill.

Mile 2 I did in 9:37 and while tired, felt I was hanging in there. No one was passing me in other words.

here's how my splits compare so far with last year

2008
Mile 1 9:47
Mile 2 9:58


So I am pretty confident I can beat last year's time seeing as I am 50 seconds ahead of last year's pace.

Mile 3 I ran in 8:41

and I ran the last .1 in 47 seconds.

So I crossed in 28:20 for a mile pace of 9:08

So in other words, course record, and distance PR. All three goals met.

I beat my course record by 69 seconds, beat my 5K PR by 34 seconds, beat my best mile pace by 11 seconds.

Blazing!

The fourth goal, which I didn't mention, was the hope that I might be the 3rd place Clydesdale. My time this year was good enough to be third last year. I even waited around for the awards, but the 3rd place Clydesdale this year finished in 26 something this year, so no medal for me.

Still, I'm starting to feel like a runner.

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