Sunday, February 2, 2014

Scott Keate - Hale Freezes Over 5K

The funny back story about this race is this is all about winning season tickets to the Hale Center Theater performaces this year.  It's the one race all year that my wife "makes" me run.  I strategically signed up for the 5K fearing that I would have to race Mike and Matt in the 10K and would be in jeopardy of not winning the season tickets, so I signed up for the 5K.  As it turned out, Mike was sick and unable to run.  Matt, however, set a new course record and racing him today would have hurt.
Before the race I worried a little bit that a few ringers from the local colleges would show up and I would be running this small little 5K losing out on my tickets and watching Matt and Brandon cruise to easy victories in the 10K.  I knew Derek Moody was racing the 5K and would be tough to beat, but that still would mean 2nd place and the tickets--like I said it's all about the tickets :-)  (Apparently, Derek recently ran under 9:10 for two miles on the treadmill--a fact that I didn't know before the race.)

I'll keep this race report short and sweet.  The gun went off. A guy I didn't recognize sprinted to the front like will sometimes happen in a 5K and was pretty much done with the race after the first 1/4 mile.  Derek and I ran pretty much shoulder to shoulder for the first mile (4:51).  I started to pull away in the second mile (there is a steep downhill in this mile wilth a bunch of turns and finishes on a gnarly up hill (4:55 for this mile). It's all uphill to the finsih although the climb mellows at as you get closer to the finish line.  I hadn't heard Derek for a while and it seemed like I was on my own and simply needed to maintain the effort. (5:15 for the 3rd mile)  The course was a little short 3.06 miles on the Garmin.  

I caught my breath for a minute and then ran out along the 10K course to catch the action with Matt and Brandon.  I ran with with each of them for a little while--ran with Brandon and Toni (who wasn't racing and had ran out with me to meet the guys) the last mile.

Great races today from the local Sojourners team!  Congrats to Jen, Amber, Rachelle, Marie, Brita, Derek, Matt, and Brandon.


Also we enjoyed the company of Mr Spencer Simpson who was out getting in some good training miles getting back into shape.

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