July 5Ks

I know I promised an update on how I did in my 5K Double-Header back in July. I am here to deliver, even if it's FOUR months late. My post might be late, but I wasn't late during the 5K Famous Racing Sausages Run/Walk at Miller Park. In fact, I passed most of the sausages, even though they had a good minute or two head start.

When trying to set a time goal, I finally settled on under 28 minutes total or faster than 9 minutes per mile. I finished in 27:37, which is 8:53 per mile. That was more than a full minute shaved off of my time from my PR 5K in April.

I've said it many times, but one of the reasons I love running is that the main competition is you on any prior day. I was not nearly as fast as the person who won the trophy for my age group (30-39) but I was about 4% better than I had been a mere 3 months prior to this. 4% might not seem like a huge improvement, but it's about 20 seconds faster per mile. I will take a 4% improvement every time.

I haven't run a 5K since that run, but I'm running one this weekend. I would love to see a 4% improvement for a finishing time of about 26:30. That would put me closer to my long-term goal time of 25:00. When I run races, I usually have a realistic goal and a reach goal. My reach goal will be 8 minute miles for a time of 25:00, but my realistic goal will be 27:00. That's not a full 4% improvement, but it's an improvement, which is always welcome.

I just looked at the best times for my age group and they're closer to 20:00. That's a pace of 6:26 per mile. I have never even run one mile faster than 7 minutes. I can't imagine running 3.1 of them at that pace. I'm sure some people would see that my goal of being 25% slower than the fastest runners of my age is "losing." I see it as realistic and competing against myself, not random strangers. It is possible that if I hit 25:00, I will evaluate my progress and aim to be faster than that.