5K PR

I ran a masters 5K PR of 17:22 this morning at the Great Pumpkin Run in Lakewood, Ohio. It's a flat, fast, out and back course in a nice tree-lined neighborhood, which starts and ends at Lakewood Park. The same course is used for three or four other races throughout the year. In fact, I ran my previous best of 17:41 on this course in May 2006. The weather was perfect today. It was about 50 degrees and though there was a pretty strong headwind in the first half of the race, once we turned around it was all on our backs. I went out pretty conservative in 5:50 -- the effort felt harder but the wind was pretty strong at this point so I trusted my effort. I felt like I was accelerating nicely at this point and once I hit the turnaround, I really started flying with the wind at my back. My 2 mile split was 11:26 and I still felt great so I went for it and started running as hard as I could, running down some guys who went out too hard early on. As I approached the finish line area, I buckled down and ran as hard as I could. It was a great feeling to see the clock ahead of me and know that I was going to PR!

I ended up 5th overall and was the first master. Team Good River's Jason Ream was the overall winner in 16:21.

I got a pair of Spira Stingers this week and I wore them in the race and I have to say they are the best racing flat I have ever worn. They're featherlight but very cushioned, which is perfect for an old guy like me!