Grafton Gazebo Road Race

5 mile road race

37:18 (7:26.7 miles)

This was my first race even though it was only a 5 miler and many of you may not think that it is a big deal it is a start for my racing career and it is pretty exciting. I came in 25th overall out of 153 runners and I placed 3rd in my age group (15-19). I am very happy with my performance to say the least. I set a goal of sub 38 minutes and I made sure that I beat it. The first mile I went out pretty hard because I was pretty hyped up on caffeine. I finished my first mile in 6:43 and I was feeling good. The second mile consisted of a massive hill that felt like it lasted almost the entire second mile all the way up to the common. Not sure what time I finished this mile in but I know it wasn't that fast. Mile 3 went by without anything unusual just cruised through at a comfortable pace. Mile 4 I hit a major wall. I have no idea what it was but I crashed pretty hard I have never run this hard for this long before. As I was going down Bruce to pollard I was trying just to make it through and then on the first part of hudson as well I was pretty down. Then this techno song came on and really brought my spirits up I grabbed a water and dumped it over my head perking me up even more and then I hit the 4 miles mark at 29:40 something and new that I had to push it hard on this last part. I kept pushing through that pain and crossed that finish line in a full out sprint with a final time of 37:18. The next one I have planned is a 6 hour as many loops as possible in that time race which will really test my mental aspect of running. I am pretty excited for that. This was a great first experience for me and I am ready to go for it again. Side note that I ran in my new asics hyperspeed 4s not even broken in.