I don’t know whether to be happy with today’s race result or not. I finished the 5K up at Van Cortlandt Park in 19:29, over a minute-and-a-half faster than last summer and finished 11th out of 146. But at 6:15/mile, that’s a minute-twenty slower than my personal best. True, the course is tough. And true, my legs were completely trashed going into this thing (after Saturday’s half marathon, I did 21 miles Sunday, 12 Tuesday, and 11 yesterday). But did I have more that I could have given? Luckily, I don’t have to wait long to find out — they’re having these races every two weeks for the rest of the summer…
Like last year, I went out fast, running the first mile in 5:49. The hills in mile 2 chewed me up and I clocked a 7:07. I sped back up to a 6:04 and 0:28 for the final mile and .11, respectively. A high schooler and I were passing each other back and forth most of the race and he came up to me after I’d finished my cooldown, reading my bib and said, “Hey, you’re Reese. You beat me. I was #12.” I smiled and told him good race, that he pushed me hard, and all that. It was true. I really wanted to finish in front of this kid and it felt so good to pass him as we were coming down the homestretch.
Helen ran way better than me, winning the women’s race and finishing only like half a minute behind me. She took home a pie. And Antonio ran his first ever cross country 5K and finished soon after her. And I saw one of our other GMR teammates, Amy picking up an award after the race.
But, the 5K was not my biggest running news of the day. That came around 10:00 this morning when I signed up for my first 50 mile race… next Saturday. My friend Kino emailed me yesterday asking if I’d be interested in heading down to D.C. to run the race with him and some friends of his. It seems strange to have signed up for my first ever ultra 9 days prior to the event, but actually the timing works out perfectly. It will be a nice, safe, well-supported environment for me to get a really long training run in. I’ll taper a bit this next week but am going to go into this with more of a training run than race day mentality. I’m just going to go down there, have some fun, get some major miles in, and hopefully finish up my first ultra and pick up a Western States qualifier.
That sounds like a good result to me. Not an easy course and after a big week which included a PB half. Nice racing to beat the high schooler too.
The 50 is exciting. No chance to get nervous. What’s the qualifying time for WS?
There are a few different options, but for the 50 miler, it’s 11 hours. That’s 13:12/mile. So, unless things go really badly, I’ll be well in front of that mark. I know the distance will be tough, but considering I did 34 miles at 7:50/mile a couple weeks ago I think that somewhere in the 9:00/mile range is a reasonable goal. 9 flats would put my time at 7:30:00. So, I’m guessing/hoping it will be something between that and 8:30:00.
You crazy! But….runners, yeah, we’re different. :) Good luck @ the ultra, and I’ll see you in NYC in 3 weeks!!
It’s hard to believe that GMR is only 3 weeks away. I’m looking forward to it.
Yeah, crazy. Best of luck, I’ll bet you have a blast.
Thanks, Daniel. I have a feeling you’re right about the having a blast part. I think it’s going to be really fun.
Heed some sage advice: In ultras, start out slow. Then slow down…
Good advice. It will be tough to follow, but I agree, very important. Being out there and forcing myself to go slow will be good practice for the 100.
While you can run faster, it takes a bit of time to get used to it. Plus you do have a fair amount of miles in you. I hope to make some of them; I’ve a race tomorrow so I didn’t make it last night.
As to the ultra, have fun.
Good luck on your race tomorrow. I definitely plan on making it to a few more of the VC 5K’s this summer so hopefully I’ll be able to knock some seconds off then. Although, the next one is 3 days after this 50 miler, so my legs will probably be a little chewed up then too…
robert thats awesome! good luck! that race takes place in my old stomping grounds. i used to cliff jump and go caving in Great Falls Park, esp the Difficult Run portion when I was in high school! if you need any tips or tactics on the area I know the terrain really well (bars and restaurants too!)
Nice. I think it’s so cool that part of the trail is named Difficult Run. We actually loop through there 3 times. That part of the course map looks a little confusing, but the good part is that you keep going by the aid stations.
When I read “Big News” I totally thought you two got engaged & was about to call Helen. Ha.
Hahaha. I guess I should have said “Big Running News.”
Hey Robert, nice race last night. It was a great start to the season for everyone I think!
Good luck on your 50 miler, that is really fantastic- wow! I volunteered at the Bear Mt 50 miler a few weeks back- it was so much fun. What a great atmosphere! Enjoy, and kick some ass while you’re at it.
Thanks for the shout out too :)
Thanks Amy, nice race to you too. How was the muffin?
Good luck on the Ultra! Very exciting. I’m sure you’ll do great.
Big news on the ultra. I can’t wait to hear all about it.