Blue Back Square Mitten Run 12-4-2011 5K

Well, I went for my record and fell far short. My offical time was 28:53. The race was in West Hartford at 10:30 in the morning. There were over 1600 people, which made for a slow start, weaving in and out of the other runners. It was cold and I think I made a mistake by wearing sweats and my Clam Man hoodie. I was warm early on, but soon got hot. The race was slowly uphill for the first mile and a half. I hit the first mile at 9:12 by my watch, which was well off the pace needed. The second mile I was there in 18:20, which means a 9:08 mile. I was getting tired and knew the record was out of reach. I was starting to get passed by more people. The race ewnded up with a downhill, followed by a straightaway through the business district with cheering crowds. I put on a vicious sprint at the end -- I always start thje sprint too late, but I passed a trillion people in the last 100 yards. I was flying, but again, in and out of people.

My final pace was 9:18.

So I guess it was unrealistic to think I could go so fast given my lack of 5K running this year, not running a comparable course to my record course, being overdressed, fighting the crowd and not really knowing how to pace myself properly.

Here are the official results:

Results