This is my 3rd time running the Triton 5K (the same number of years they started hosting this race on a weekend vs Fridays when I was still in school). And unless I decide to move away from San Diego, I don’t see myself not running this race. It’s a great way to support my alma mater and it gives me an excuse to visit the campus. I was hoping for a slightly faster time, but it’s still good nonetheless. Results: 19:48 (6:23 min/mile), 8/167 age group, 77/2,478 overall. You’d think I’d learn to pace myself in this race since it was my 3rd time, but it didn’t happen. Even though I knew I wouldn’t be able to stay with the lead runners, I still tried. For some reason, it never gets through my head that these are young kids, with lots of energy (probably some pent up frustration considering their quarter had just ended!) The gun went off and after getting through the normal crowds at the beginning, I continued to run at a very fast pace. The first mile was so fast (5:53), it was almost as fast as my fastest 1 mile time on a track that I ran last year (5:48). As expected, my splits for the final 2 miles were significantly slower than that first mile (6:35 and 6:38). Unfortunately, those last two miles were brutal, I didn’t get passed by too many people but I definitely was not able to pick up the pace or pass any other runners during that time. I’m fairly certain that if I would have ran a 6:23 first mile, I would have had a better chance of running that same time for the 2nd and 3rd miles (maybe even faster since I may have had just a little bit more energy left). But I really have no one else to blame but myself. I’m actually very bad at pacing, most of the time I will know that I am running fast (or much faster than I should be running), but what I’m afraid of is starting off too slow and being forced to make up time the rest of the way. But I have successfully held back at the beginning of a race which allowed me to pick up the pace later on and feel 100x better doing it! Oh well, it is what it is..
It looks like June will be a very busy race month for me. First, was the Triton 5K. Then I will be running the Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle Half Marathon the following week and then doing a fun run at the Del Mar Fair (which includes free entry to the fair…now I won’t feel as bad for eating all of that unhealthy fried food!) I do like this progression though: shorter distance 5K, then harder and longer half marathon, followed by a fun 5K and junk food. I can’t wait for summer!
