BAA 5k

I don’t race terribly often, maybe half a dozen times a year, not counting the Media Challenge Race Series in Central Park. So when I do race, I have a purpose–I don’t get out there just to participate. That made this BAA 5k a little tricky. The $45 price tag was a little steep for me; at $15 per mile, normally I would have targeted this race for a PR. But I knew my training wasn’t going to be there, so I decided instead to use it as a preliminarly measure of fitness, and the starting point for my marathon basebuilding. The BAA 5k would tell me how much work I have to do to be able to run a qualifying time for the BAA 26.2. See that? Symmetry and progression, all in one. That pleases me.

And, ultimately so did my race. I’m staying with my friend JG and her husband, so we all headed over on foot to the race start–they live a mere five minutes from the Boston Marathon finish line.  JG an I got lucky: the predicted downpour had dwindled to a mist and the temperature was a perfect 55 degrees. I wore my red London Marathon tech tee in honor of the folks racing across the pond this morning. There weren’t seeded corrals so we all just mucked up behind the starting line; this created a slow first mile for me (Little G said 8:15). It’s been months since I did a 5k, so I internalized my focus and monitored my effort and comfort levels closely the whole race. Because of this, a lot of the scenery was a blur and I remember very little of the course. We ran around the Boston Common (Beacon Hill was the only real hill on the course) which was familiar to me for past visits to the city. When we went along Commonwealth Avenue I had vivid memories of cheering during the Women’s Olympic Marathon Trials a few years ago. I thought, Joanie, Deena, Magda and Blake all ran here! During Mile 3, I was starting to suffer a little but I told myself Steady! Steady! Steady! I didn’t want to lay off my effort. When we turned onto Boyleston Street from Hereford, I went right into visualization and self-talk mode. OK TK, remember this image, because in 2013 you are going to be running here for real, you will be approaching the finish line and it will be Mile 26 and you will be achieving one of your life’s running goals. No wonder that was my fastest part of the race.

Little G says: 3.21 miles in 24:49. Average pace 7:44. Mile 1- 8:14, Mile 2- 7:38, Mile 3- 7:27, last 0.21- 1:28 (7:05 pace).

Official results: 24:47 (7:58 pace), I placed 31st in my division (out of 312).