Beat the Heat Race Recap

Goal:
Break 17:00

Actual:
5 miles in the morning

5k warmup
5k Race in 17:04 (5:20, 5:43, 5:30, :30)
4 mile cool down for 15 miles total for the day

So I haven't done a real 5k since this race last year, unless you count the Moe's Burrito Dash I did back in April that featured a brief pause to scarf down a burrito.  Since I don't actually count that as a real 5k, I had no idea of where my 5k fitness stood prior to this race, but I figured I may as well just go all in with my goal and try to break 17:00.  I had grandiose plans to work together with Eric and Caleb to race in a way where we ran as even as possible...so like at 5:25-5:27 for the first mile, at 5:30 for the second, and like 5:25 for the third.  Yeah, that didn't happen, but somehow we still had fun.

After a solid warmup of the course, Caleb, Eric, Pezz, Alana, Danielle, Heather and my former teammate Marley, and I all toed the line in a clump behind the elite men.  My plan was to keep Alana in sight for the first mile to gauge our pace.  The gun went off, and we were out!  Caleb kept the pace honest in the first mile, and we were a comfortable distance from Alana in the first half mile.  By the time we passed the mile mark, we had caught Alana, and were all in a tight pack.  I tried not to panic that we had gone out way too fast and ignored the fact that I was breathing very heavy.  Somewhere around 1.5, we passed Alana and Mark yelled "Go with Caitlin!"  Caleb lead the way as Eric and I faltered a bit, but somehow stayed close behind Caleb.  By the second mile mark, Alana had pulled right back alongside us, and it was a definitely a battle.  As the boys pulled slightly away, Alana and I were left to our own battle against each other.  It actually helped me out a ton as my legs were dead from the humidity and didn't really want to keep pushing.  We helped each other out, and with 800m to go, somehow I had pulled slightly away from Alana again.  Then the 3 mile mark appeared, and Alana was alongside me again.  This is where the race really started to get exciting as I tried to kick and as Alana decidedly kicked better than me.  She edged me out by a second or two, and I crossed the finish line with spaghetti legs.

Overall, I'm really pleased with my race here because for the third year in a row, I'm within seconds of the same time:  2010 - 17:01, 2011 - 17:03, 2012 - 17:04.  I haven't focused on 5k speed whatsoever in my training this year, so it was nice to see that my build up to marathon training has proven to be effective in the shorter distances as well.  I also am motivated to try to break 17 on the roads again by racing the Greek Fest 5k, where Alana and I can work together again to get a PR.  It was exceptionally nice to have so many friends to race against and to push me when the weather conditions were by far the worst they've ever been at this race.  Looking forward to August!