Glow 5k

As I’ve mentioned previously, I’m not a fan of the Vinton Dogwood 5k. It’s nothing against the race itself; it’s actually a good event. I’m just not a fan of the course and for whatever reason have not run well there since they changed it to the current route several years ago. However, towards the end of last week I decided a race might be what I needed in terms of a good workout, so I hesitantly thought about heading to Vinton to run. In the process of looking up info on the race, I noticed there was also a race in Bedford the same morning. Since Bedford isn’t that far down the road, I decided to head there as an alternative. In the end, everything worked out very well, but it was a bit of an adventure along the way.

First off, I’m glad I have a GPS in my vehicle, because I had seen that the race started at the Bedford Elementary School and thought I knew exactly where that was. Well, apparently what I thought was the elementary school is actually the “primary” school, so I nearly missed the race altogether. Thankfully, after punching the location into the GPS, I found the right spot and arrived with about 45 min left until the race start. I quickly got myself registered and headed out to warm up over the course. This is when I realized that I had managed to find a hillier, much slower course than what I would have run had I gone to Vinton, and to top it all off, my legs felt very sluggish and heavy. As I completed my warm-up, I surmised that there wasn’t a flat spot to be found other than about 100 meters at the start/finish, and I also determined that unless my GPS was off the course was a touch long as well. When all was said and done, my Garmin showed 679’ of total elevation change, making this race probably the hilliest 5k I’ve ever run, and in spite of my attempt to run every tangent possible, I still came in at 3.15 miles. Not making excuses (well, maybe I am), but add in the 180 degree turn in the middle of the race, and you definitely don’t have what could be called a fast course.

Anyway, the race got started right on time, and I immediately went to the front. I had some company fairly close by for about half a mile, at which point the course hit the first big climb of the day. From .50 to .75, there was an ascent of over 100’, which wakes you up to say the least. The course continued to climb until past the mile mark, where you began a circle of the D-Day Memorial. This was pretty cool because I hadn’t actually been to the Memorial before, so it was an interesting way to get to see it, not that I paid a whole lot of attention while running hard (I did look around a bit more when doing my w-up and c-down). Once you had completely circled the Memorial, you did a 180 and retraced your steps all the way to the finish line. After feeling pretty bad in the w-up, I actually felt decent in the race itself. I was rolling on the downhill in the last mile but hit an uphill at about 2.75 miles that slowed my pace significantly, especially at that point in the race. I got a little momentum built back after I crested the climb and crossed the line in 17:39 to take the overall win. My splits went 5:37, 5:47, 5:30, and :45 for the last .15.

While I would have liked to have had a flatter course and the opportunity to run faster, it was definitely a good workout, which is what I really needed and was seeking. Additionally, for a first year event, it was pretty well organized and also fairly well attended, with 136 people finishing.  It also benefited a good cause, as the funds went to the Bedford Pregnancy Center. I didn’t get any photos from the race, although they said some might be posted on the race web site at some point. Results can be found here.

Overall I’m okay with the way things went. The past 6-7 weeks of training have not gone how I would have liked, and at a time when I was hoping to really be building fitness and running fast, I’ve actually lost some ground. The good news is I don’t think I’ve lost all that much, and with a few good weeks could probably be back where I was and maybe even a little better. The bad news is the upcoming month of May is going to have some challenges as well when it comes to getting in the training I need/want, so my plan is just to make the most of it and do the best I can. Hopefully my schedule will settle down a little and/or I can get better organized going forward and by the time I hit the Master’s class in a few months I’ll be ready to roll. Nothing comes easy; do what it takes!