7/11 - Run Of The Mill 5K Race Report

Saturday I paced Val in her third 5K of the year so far. We parked and dropped Kaitlyn off with her grandmother and walked the 4 blocks to the start. Kaitlyn and co were going to see us at the finish. Got our bibs and ran into Jim, his wife and two of their boys. Chatted with one of the photographers from Artis, who were doing the official photos for the race, and then found a spot about 2/3rds of the way back.

Started out nice and slow, and then worked out way up to cruising speed. Val had the HR strap on, and I ran next to her with the Garmin on. We don't really have good HR data for her, but we could see how hard she was working, and watch changes when she had to walk. We ran all the way to the apartment clubhouse and the first hill and walked. We knew we were speedwalking up the hill when her HR didn't come down, so we slowed a little more. As we were walking the hill, just before the Mile 1 marker the cleared the other lane for the leaders to blaze past!

Just after mile 1 was the first downhill, and I had her try to let the hill do the work. We got some great speed coming down the mild slope, but the increased intensity aroused Val's nemesis, a really ugly side stitch to rear it's ugly head. Especially after this race I really think it's intensity related. I'm not sure if more base building is the answer, or more intensity work to try to break past it.

Another slight uphill and then a really nice shady downhill, and then onto the trail and back up the route we just came in on, at 2 miles. The trail had some walking and side stitch fighting, but we were able to power up the hill at the end of the trail uneventfully.

The last mile was a bit of a push, but as it was mostly downhill, Val was able to really get some good speed. We walked a couple of times, but she was able to get moving in the last quarter mile, and really hammer out a nice finish. I dropped back a second to make sure she was the first one in.

A shiny new 2 minute PR for her! And a pleasant run with my wife for me.

37:57 (12:13/mile)

12:08
12:35
12:03
1:13 (9:15/mile pace!!)

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Sunday: Washed the house with JOMAX and then powerwashed. 7 hours or so...