Race #140
5k #49
2018 Race #1
2017 5k #1
Greenville News Run Downtown 5k #6

After the unsuccessful PR effort at Jingle Jingle back in December, I briefly entertained another PR attempt here since I was already registered, emphasis on briefly. Instead, I shifted my focus, as planned to half marathon training since the Hilton Head Half is less than 3 weeks away.

If as originally planned, I had run this with Mom, I likely would have dialed the pace back just a tad to run this with her. However, she and Ellis had a training at church this weekend so she accidentally double booked herself and could not run the race with me this morning. (This also means that I have zero photographs of the race because I forgot to take any pre or post race selfies.)

I shifted my plan to incorporate the 9 more miles I had to run today and planned on the 5k being a tempo portion in the late middle portion of the overall 12 miles on the docket. I planned to arrive downtown around 8am for the 9am race, run 5 miles as a “warm up” and then run 4 miles afterwards. The plan started to change when I checked my phone this morning, 10 minutes before I planned to leave, and saw that it had decided not to charge all night while plugged into my computer. I needed more than 30% battery.

Then I ended up texting Mom. She has been unable to run for several days due to the winter weather and the lack of treadmill. (I am very thankful for the treadmill at my house.) She really wanted to run so I changed my plans and shifted the 9 extra miles to the afternoon once she finished with the training. (Thanks to my warm up and cool down before and after the race, that’s now only 7 miles.)

Now I had to make a game plan. Instead of making the race a tempo effort mid run, I would be running the race first and then several hours later, running 7-9 more miles. What would I do?

After some quick calculations, I decided on a race pace effort, half marathon race pace. My goal pace is 7:30, for the half. With the hilly downtown terrain in mind, I thought that would be a reasonable yet challenging goal.

I parked at University Ridge and ran to the start line and a little more to get in a full mile warm up and to lesson the amount of time I would have to stand and shiver at the start line. I ended up getting in a mile warm up at 9:30.

I wedged myself in about 5 people back from the start line and 3 minutes later we were off.

I continue to be amazed at the number of people who seed themselves at the start of a race like this who have absolutely no business being up that far. Thankfully we have all of Main Street to spread ourselves out on so the congestion was not an issue.

We started a block or so back from the normal start line. (I assume that the adjustments to the course had to be made due to the copious amount of construction going on downtown.) Thus, we enjoyed a significant downhill for the first half mile or so. I quickly settled into a pace that felt good and surprised me at how “fast” it was.

We soon started to head uphill as we continued on Main Street past Fluor Field. That hill nearly killed me in the last mile of my first marathon. Today? Not so much. I avoided looking at my watch to check the pace and focused on maintaining a steady effort.

Just before the end of the first mile we crested the hill and turned onto Vardry Street.

Mile 1: 7:34

At the time I had no idea what my split for mile 1 was because I did not feel the vibration of my watch. The next time I looked down at my watch I saw that my pace was 7:50ish and that it was approximately 1.08. Time to pick the pace back up after the hill. I could feel myself setting into the slightly slower pace. Now was not the time to get complacent.

Around this time I noticed a girl who was running approximately the same pace as me. She had on a Hub Fitness shirt. It quickly became my goal to keep her in my sights and make sure to pass “Hub girl” before the end of the race.

I felt really good through this section. Honestly, I felt really good through the entire race which I loved.

Three fairly quick turns later and we headed back down that same hill only one block over. Hub girl passed me. I quickly intimated that hills were not her forte and determined to not let her get too far away from my on this downhill so that I could pass her on the hill of death in mile 3.

I spent the latter half of mile 2 looking down at the ground. We ran past construction with plenty of dirt on the road. Thanks to the ice thaw this dirt had transformed into mud which would spell disaster if I did not tread carefully.

Mile 2: 7:20

The first third of mile 3 contains what passes for flat in downtown Greenville and a little bit of downhill before you turn onto River Street and head up the “Hill of Death.”

As we finished the second to last downhill, I looked ahead and could see the “Hill of Death” ahead. I determined right there that I would kill that hill, not the other way around.

Each time I run this race, this hill gets easier. I will not go so far as to say that the hill felt easy today but it certainly did not feel hard at all. The only point at which I felt ready for the hill to be done was right before we turned onto East North Street, right before the end of the hill.

I definitively passed “Hub girl” on that hill. Each step put her farther behind me. We we turned onto East North Street and then back onto Main, I knew that not much of the race lay ahead of me. I also knew that in the past I have started my sprint way too early in this race. Main Street marks the end but not quite as soon as all the runners expect.

I also knew, though, that I had plenty left in the tank since I had not full out raced this race; I treated it like a workout. I could afford a little pain at this point.

Just before we passed back under the start line, just before the end of the third mile I briefly considered slowing down. I dug deep, refused to listen and kept pushing.

Mile 3: 7:17

Instead of finishing on Main Street like we always have, we took a left on Broad Street. As I mentioned earlier, I assume that the slight course changes were necessitated by downtown construction.

I sprinted as hard as I could through this section. A few guys passed me, sprinting in a whole other gear that I could not possibly match. No other ladies passed me though.

.10: 6:10
Overall: 23:05

I finished pleased with my efforts. I had no idea when I finished that I had run nearly perfect negative splits, a goal that I like to have with 5ks but can never seem to execute.

Everything ran smoothly today.

Of course, coming in a mere 6 seconds away from another 22:xx effort makes the competitive part of me wish that I had pushed just a little bit harder in that last mile.

Overall though, I am pleased with my effort today. I raced exactly according to plan for the first time in a while.

This race revealed a few other things to me though as I looked back at my history with the race. As I looked back, I realized that I have run 5ks in the 22 minute range since 2013, five years ago. With the exceptions of my PR year, 2014, I have been in a significant plateau. Something needs to change if I want to break out of this plateau.
Also, I am not sure what explains the difference in ranking but this race, although I ran just my third fastest time, I earned my highest age group ranking out of any time I have raced this 5k, 5th in my age group. I’ll take that for sure.

Time to dig deep.