The race day was a 180-degree difference than race day last year. In 2009, it was chilly and rainy; in a word miserable. This year, the sun was shining brightly, and even though the temperature at the start was about 35 degrees, the sun made it much more tolerable.
This year's race had close to 600 runners, and it was very congested at the start. A slight uphill climb in the first mile thinned out the crowd a bit, and I ran the first mile in 8:54, which was 25 seconds faster than I had planned. So far, so good. Most of mile 2 was slightly up grade as well, but the steep downhill in the latter stages of this leg allowed me to run it in 8:32.
I really picked it up on the flat roads in the 3rd mile, running for me was my fastest mile in my race history, an 8:19. So I was at 25:45 after 3 miles, and a PR was within my sights. I backed off a little in the 4th mile, running an 8:54, and ran an 8:45 in the final mile to cross the finish line in 43:23.
That time shattered my personal record for a 5-mile race by over a minute and a half! In fact, it was a better pace than my 5K best, which is an 8:48 pace (set in December in Florida). And the most surprising part was that I really wasn't breathing hard until the end of mile 4. Proof to me that my training regimen is really working for me.
So, according to the McMillan Running Calculator, I should be able to run a 2:01:00 in the National Half-Marathon in less than 2 weeks. We shall see if I can keep that pace up over 13.1 miles. But the more interesting data shows that my target 5K time should be 26:11, which is just slightly over the goal I set for this year, which is to run a sub-26 minute 5K.
Next stop, Washington DC on March 20.
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