Three of Five - Crazy Eights

Today I ran the third of five 5km races in my (personal, since nobody else decided to join) "shallonge". Race #3 was the Smiths Falls Figure Eight 5km. A more apt name would be crazy eights.

The way this zany course is laid out, I cannot fathom how they couldn't find an extra 500m somewhere along the way to make it the whole 5km long.

They said that due to construction the course was shortened by 200m. The course was notorious for being short, however the math they apparently used assumed the original race was 5km, minus 200m giving 4.8km. Now depending on who you trust for the actual distance, my race is either an incremental success or a bitter setback.

The official race distance, which Sportstats used to calculate paces, is 4.8km, so my result of 20:21 gives an average pace of 4:15/km and therefore a 5km time of 21:15

Andy's Garmin said it was 4.67km which give a pace of 4:21/km and a 5km extrapolation of 21:47

and finally my Garmin said it was only 4:48km, which in turn give 4:32/km and 22:42.

Judging solely by how it felt, I'd guess mine was closest, but averaging it out I guess I'll take Andy's.

I went to pick up Clarisse at a sleep over in Greely and made it to the race site in time to pick up our kits get our numbers on, chit chat with Joe and Jessie (of Zoomphoto) and get ready to start. Our races started at nearly the same time, but at two different locations on either side of the finish line, so by the time I got Clarisse squared away, there was no time for any kind of warm up.

Plus yesterday's workout took a big toll, and my massage on Friday did too. I couldn't hold my form, and every step seem like more effort than it should've been.

The course was crazy, we ran on recreational paths, on grass, through an RV park, on gravel, on packed dirt, up a steep grassy hill, over a bridge, on roads, sidewalks through trees. Why they couldn't throw in a 100m out and back to make up the lost distance is quite beyond me. It was insane.

Andy took off from the get go, and there was no way I was catching him. A bunch of kids not much older than my daughter did too, I caught one or two of them, but they passed my easily later in the race.

The last two km were really rough, I had nothing left to kick at the end. I pushed myself hard and my body just couldn't respond.

I can't say I'm surprised, my demands have been very high a lot lately, and my body had reached its limit.

Clarisse was no doubt tired from the late night sleep over and early wake up call, plus Emilie's run 1km the day before, she ran a respectable 13:18, not her best but solid for the amount of sleep she got.

Maybe I'll give my self a bit of a rest before the Canada Day run next Friday.