Dec. 29 - Blizzard Blast 5k (83 miles/week)

AM: Blizzard Blast 5k, 15:55 (PR), 2nd place, 8 miles total

I decided to jump into a race in Tampa while I am down here visiting some family. A 5k near the Bucs stadium was really my only option, so I jumped into this one. The name is a bit misleading because it's really humind in Florida. It was only about 70 degrees, but I was dripping with sweat afterwards. I at least got to run the race sans-shirt, which is a welcome change from the tights-only weather in Maryland and DC.

The race really wasn't that complicated. It went out pretty fast (71 sec for the first 1/4 mile), and by the time everything settled in, I was really only running with three guys. We came through the mile in 4:56, which felt exactly as it should have. Shortly thereafter, I made the only mistake of the race. One guy (the eventual winner) surged, but because there was one more guy with us, I opted to stay with him, thinking we would work together over the next mile to overtake him. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but of course that didn't end up happening as I ultimately settled for second.

Over the second mile, there were two small little bumps in the road (not big enough to be considered hills). I surged on both of those, dropping the guy who was with me. I hit 2 miles in 10:08 and spent the rest of the race trying to reel in the guy in the lead. I didn't quite catch him, but when I hit 3 miles in 15:23, I knew I had a good shot at sneaking under my PR, which I did.

Overall, this race was very promising. I definitely haven't been doing any 5k-specific work. The last time I ran a PR in the 5k, it was on the track in college, and I was on the track 2 or 3 times per week. I had halfway settled on the fact that because of my mediocre speed, it could have been a while before I saw another 5k PR. Today showed this was obviously not the case.

I'm also coming off of my two highest weeks of mileage since September, and two hard workouts this week. I also need to consider that I didn't run a step for four weeks in October, and I've only been running full time for a couple of weeks now. I didn't expect to come back in PR shape so soon.

So even though I lost a race I could have won today, it is at least a little bit encouraging that I can PR in a weak distance without much specificity in my training. It makes me believe I'm setting myself up for a strong Spring at the longer stuff where I am generally more competitive. Today was the end of a good 2007, and it was definitely a positive step into 2008.

I'll be in Tampa through Tuesday evening. Valerie and I will drive to Savannah for a night, and then back to Maryland on Wednesday. The warm weather (82 dgrees this afternoon!) is a huge relief right now, even compared to Atlanta.