I got to the site of the Bloomin' 5K early, hoping to be able to scope out the course before the race started. I did some stretching and then ran the first half-mile of the course and back to get some idea of the lay of the land. I had studied the route the day before, so I already knew the turns, but I am glad that I was able to see that the first mile had an uphill.
Back at the start line, next to Clifton Stadium the crowd was amassing. Not one other person in that increasingly larger group of people packing into the starting area was wearing a mask, but I wore my KN95. Plus, being confident and well-trained enough, I planted myself in the front, so at least I had some room in front of me while we waited.
After a long delay while we waiting for the Clifton Police to get it together, we got the go signal and I bolted out with the fast guys, losing the mask once everyone thinned out. A quick left turn from Park Slope to Day Street, followed by a quick right turn onto Fairmount Avenue got us onto that first hill. I throttled up as hard as I could, but was unable to sustain the 6:10 pace I started out doing, despite getting a small downhill in the back half of the first mile. A left onto Martha, a right onto Grant, brought us to Hazel Street, which we crossed to get on Kuller Road where the bulk of the out-and-back race would be run.
I hit the first mile marker at 6:19 and, though I had secured an early spot in the top 10, I knew I had to find a way to push harder to get in under 19 minutes. The course was flat for the next mile so, save for the turnaround, I could focus on keeping up a decent consistent pace. I managed to do best my first mile, hitting mile two with a 6:12, now in seventh place.
But now it was time to get back up those hills, so I dug as deep as my 47-year-old body could possibly go and, thanks to the downhill in the third mile, beat my second mile with a 6:11. It was almost enough to get me to squeak in under 19 minutes, but no matter how hard I pushed, I could not make it happen, as a runner shot past me in the end and put me at a final stading of eighth place (no complaints!) and a 19:04 (well...five complaints), which got me a first-place age group medal (no complaints!).
The Covid era has coincided with my slowdown from sub-19 status, so it has been a weird return to live racing. Not much about the experience made me want to do any more races so I figured I would jump right back into marathon training and plan for a September race.
