Race Report: GW Parkway Classic 5K

I ran the GW Parkway Classic 5K this morning in 18:53, which was good enough for the female win.  And...a duplicate to my BAA 5K time.  And....2 seconds off of my PR of 18:51.


When I ran 18:53 at the BAA 5K a few weeks ago, I took it as a sign that I was ready to run much faster on the right day.  The BAA 5K is a very fast course, but the weather wasn't great that day, and race congestion, pre-race logistics, and a 10 mile race 6 days before also slowed my time.

So....I needed to find that right day.  When I noted that temps would be reasonable this weekend, I decided to hop into another 5K to take a shot at nudging that PR down.

There were many many 5Ks in the DC area this weekend, along with two bigger races - the Pikes Peek 10K and the GW Parkway Classic 10 miler.  It's nice to live in an area with so many options, but it also made it more challenging to find a race that would be the right set-up for me to run fast.  For longer races, I can run by myself very well.  But for miles and 5Ks, I need people to chase to perform my best.

It boiled down to two options: the Bright Beginnings 5K on Saturday or the GW Parkway Classic 5K on Sunday (which accompanied the 10 Miler).  Bright Beginnings had a lightning fast course (a lollypop out-and-back on a pancake flat road), while the GW 5K was point-to-point with some rollers and a very slight net uphill.  But...Saturday was forecast to be very windy and Bright Beginnings' past results showed NOBODY running 18:xx; while Sunday would be much better weather, and historically GW was a deeper race.

I went with GW since it was my best shot at a fast 5K.

***

The GW races are point-to-point, finishing in Old Town Alexandria.  Most people park in Alexandria and take buses to the 10 mile or 5K starts.  Since I need at least 3 miles warm-up before a 5K, it made much more sense for me to park in Alexandria and just run down to the start.  However, I knew the parking situation might be really tight, so I left my house early anyway, around 6:15 am for the 8:00 am race.  About 25 minutes later, I had found a decent parking space, so I just hung out there until 7:00 am, when I left my car to jog to the start.

I did 3 miles, including two hard quarters at about 5K effort.   Then drills, strides, drills, strides, until it was time to line up.

As I noted before, the GW Parkway 5K course is point to point with a slight net uphill - it's the last 3 miles of the 10 Miler. The course starts heading south, and then makes a U-turn after a quarter mile to join the 10 mile course and head north.  The first mile is flat but winding (run the tangents!). The second mile has a shallow but steady climb for about a third of a mile (basically going over the Beltway), and then a shorter descent.  Then you turn right.

At the start of the third mile, there is a short but steep hill (about 100m, and about a 5% incline) with a matching drop.  Then a left turn onto Union Street for a long flat straight-away, just slightly less than a mile long, all the way to the finish.

***

They started us (I almost wrote "the gun went off" but there was no gun), and everyone surged off the line.  I was passed by:

a) about twelve men - disappointing, because I wanted more in front of me - especially ones around my pace;
b) two women;
c) about 10 children.

The kids all came back within about 50 meters, as kids do.  The two women were clearly working too hard, and I eased past them right after the U turn.  As for the men?  One grupetto was clearly 15-16 minute guys (of no help to me), but there were about 4-5 men ahead that looked like candidates to chase down.  I wanted more, but you can only race those that show up.

And then another woman pulled up next to me, and started pulling ahead.  I pulled even with her, and my mindset shifted from time trial to head-to-head competition.

Together we ran.  I was working hard but I could tell from her breathing that she was working a bit harder.    I considered pushing a bit harder to pull ahead, but...I really wanted to win this race too if I could ($125 for first place).  Working at this pace, we were still reeling men in, so we weren't dawdling.  And I didn't want to do all the work rabbiting her, just to have her out-kick me at the end.  Which there was a good chance she could do, given that she seemed much younger than me.

So, we ran together.  I'd pull ahead just slightly, with the goal of making her just a bit more uncomfortable.  Then she'd pull ahead and I'd just sit on her.  I also quickly introduced myself to her - not so much to be polite as much as to make sure she knew that I was relaxed and in control.

(feel free to judge, because that wasn't very nice of me.  On the other hand it was a race, and there's no rule against playing head games in races with people you want to beat.)

We hit the first long climb at 1.25 miles, and she pulled ahead.  I wondered if I had misjudged her fitness and this was the decisive move.  I debated going with her, but it was early and I'm bad on long gentle climbs, so I just held to my steady effort.  And sure enough, she came back on the downhill.  And we were together again as we made the right turn onto Franklin Street.

By this time, we had passed all men within sight, and it was just her and me.  We ran past mile marker 2, still together, with the short but steep hill just ahead.  This hill was actually in two parts - a very steep climb for one block, then a very shallow climb for a second block.  Before dropping back down and  making a hard left turn on to Union Street.

She pulled ahead on the hill again, and I let her - after the previous hill, I was fairly sure I could reel her in once more.  At the conclusion of the steep part of the hill, I threw in my own surge up the shallow second part.  I passed her, and then accelerated down the back side.  Since I'm a very good downhill runner, I can recover AND increase pace downhill simultaneously - that helped today.

Then, with the lead in hand, I turned left onto Union Street and the long drag to the finish.  It was nice to have the lead, but these situations are also my personal mental kryptonite.  I tend to get too anxious, go too soon, and blow myself up.

Because I know myself, I usually map out these long sections in advance, noting which cross-streets are which distance from the finish.  Here, I knew that the Gibbons Street crossing was 1200m from the finish, Duke Street was 800m, and Cameron Street was 400m.  So...at this point, I turned this race into a 1200m workout.  If she passed me, then I'd go with her.  But as long as I had the lead, I would stick with my plan, upping my effort every 400m.

Running down Union Street was fun, but also very tense.  People on either side were cheering me on as the first woman.  I had no way of knowing how far she was behind me, and no way to tell.  I didn't want to look back (you never look back), and while the fact that nobody was saying "you can catch her" or "she's right behind you" or "go ladies" was promising, it wasn't conclusive.  So I ran hard, but with a little in reserve, upshifting into a new gear with each "400."

Then I passed the 3 mile marker.  I had no idea how close she was, or how hard she could kick.  For all I knew, she was an 800m specialist.  So I kicked with everything I had just to make sure I sealed the win.  I pulled up my arms at the very last second to break the tape, and then counted "1 Mississippi" before slowing down, lowering my arms, and stopping my watch to make sure I didn't ruin the finish photo, as I've done before.

My watch said 18:55 when I checked it.  It hadn't taken me 5 seconds to stop my watch, so clearly I had missed my PR, and REALLY missed my goal time of 18:3x.  Oh well.  A win was still a win, and I was too happy to be done to be upset about the time.

Manual splits were:
Mile 1: 6:13
Mile 2: 6:09
Mile 3: 5:55
last bit: 37 seconds (5:36 pace, but I stopped my watch late, so this was faster)

While I really wish I had run faster, even just 3 seconds faster, I'm not too upset.  It wasn't too long ago that breaking 19 minutes for a 5K seemed like an insurmountable task, and now it's a normal thing.  If I can just get myself into the right situation on the right day, I have a much faster 5K in me.

And...the fact that this race ended up being a sit-and-kick was good in that it didn't take as much from me as a hard 5K time trial would have.  That's very good news for me, since I have the Broad Street 10 Miler next weekend.

Other notes:

•  The weather was pretty good.  60 degrees with a dew point of 50.  And bright enough that I could wear sunglasses, which is preferable for race photos.  When racing, I look intimidating with sunglasses on, and like an agitated goat without them.  My only complaint (besides the insanely high pollen in the start area that rendered me almost unable to speak) was that the forecast tailwind did not manifest.
• The woman I was racing finished not too far behind me - I know this because I had just stopped my watch and was bent over when she congratulated me.  We chatted briefly (she was visiting from Austin, Texas) and then she stepped away, saying that she'd see me at the awards ceremony.  However, the posted race results show that the second place woman was a full minute behind me (running 19:5x), and Austin girl did not show at the awards.  Very weird.
• The posted results have me as 9th overall, with a man finishing 10 seconds ahead of me.  Which is weird, because I didn't see him, and I would have loved to have chased him to a faster time.  I'm guessing that he was actually going after a much faster time, and blew up to an 18:41, which is why I didn't see him.
• Fodder for future conversation with my coach - I'm wondering if I need to go out harder in 5Ks.  I'm not saying that I should positive split them, but I am thinking that my patience in the first mile is actually leaving time on the table.  In my last two 5Ks, I've gone out at 6:13-6:15; going out about 5-10 seconds faster might get me over that PR hump.
• For the awards, they gave us these big wooden flags as trophies (18 inches by 2.5 feet) and had us climb up onto a tall, narrow, wobbling podium balanced on the side of an incline.  I didn't wipe out, and I credit my yoga practice and regular balance board practice for this.
• I actually attempted to run this race about 8-9 years ago, when I was still a relatively new runner, dreaming some day of breaking 20 minutes for 5K.  My asthma and allergies were still massively underdiagnosed at that point, and I dropped out of the race in the first mile with breathing issues.  It was nice to come back, so many years later, and have a much better experience.