Include Me! 5K, Montville, NJ

Montville, New Jersey. I guess that's "Mont" as in "Mount" as in "Mountain" as in "hills". And the hills were definitely my enemy at this race.

Not that the presence of hills was any surprise. I lived in neighboring Parsippany for 10 years and ran through Montville many times. The surprise was my inability to handle them.

The start of the race, off Horseneck Road near the library, had a short downhill before an incline that was steep enough to throw a wrench into anyone's race, too early on, in the first mile. I bounded up, knowing that my fresh legs could handle it and that I could hang back on the way down. 

But I also knew I was trying to hit a time mark and pacing was everything. I kept my strides long on the downhill, but tried to reduce my effort. But by the time I reached the second hill, I could feel things were awry. 

And then came the turnaround. Oh yes, I had forgotten this was an out-and-back course. This meant I had to run the same hills in reverse. By the time I got to the original hill, I was out of gas and the muscles in my leg started getting that painful fatigued feeling again. I was pushing only on persistence, knowing I had trained so damn hard for this. I had to fight through the exhaustion and pain on principle, if nothing else.

But then, I wondered if it was in my head. Maybe I could trust my training. Maybe I was doing the sub-6 pace I had trained for without knowing it. After all, I trained so hard, I had taught my body to run fast without letting my brain get in the way.

No such luck. Coming down the hill, I could see the clock at the finish line and it was already in the 18s. The best I could do to save it from being a bad race and retain my dignity was to get in under nineteen. So I dug deep and finished with an 18:57. Not worth the intense training though which I put myself, but not bad. 

As for the event itself, it was well organized and well run. Check-in was easy, and they were nice enough to split the age groups into five-year increments, so I ended up winning my age group. Had they done it in 10 year groups, I would not have gotten a medal. 

Still, this race has forced me to evaluate what I want to do with the next few weeks before I start marathon training again. Is it worth it to push myself like this for another short race before the long runs become the focus again? Will I survive? We shall see.