Cottonwood Classic 5K
May 17, 2003
Sheri signed both of us up for the Cottonwood Classic 5K as a final tune-up for the Bolder Boulder. We generally like doing a 5K the weekend before the Bolder Boulder and it helps gauge our prospects for the big race. This year I hadn’t done my track work, or even much running. With the closure of Potts Field (CU track) due to their fancy new Mondo surface and no lunchtime workout partners, I had lost motivation. I wasn’t running much at all, mainly just doing a scramble or two a week. There would be no fast time for me this year as I hadn’t paid the piper.
Sheri and I left the house at 6:45 when Taylor came over to watch the boys. At the race, we met Noelle, Sheri’s friend and past training partner. Last year Noelle won this race and Sheri was third. This isn’t that big of race. Including the walkers, there are probably only 300 people or so. The course was a new one this year and it was mostly flat and fast, but did descend slightly for the first two miles, before gaining it back in the third.
The start was crowded into a single lane of the road and when the gun went off, I could see Noelle sprint out of there, headed for the front. She opened a big gap on the rest of the women almost immediately, but then things stabilized a bit. I figured Sheri would be beating me by about a minute or so, but I wanted to keep her in sight for a while to ensure that I got off to a reasonable start.
Sheri stretched out a lead on me, as she always does at the start of a race, but then it stabilized and I even started to reel her in a bit. The entire length of this race, I’d be within striking distance of another runner and that kept my motivation very high. Sheri soon was the second-placed woman on the road, and I was right behind her at the first mile mark. She went through in 6:08 and I went through in 6:10. I was quite pleased with this first mile.
I had run two other 5K’s this season, but both were quite a bit hillier and I had run them in trainers. Today I was in my racing flats. I increased the pace in an effort to pull even with Sheri. I wanted her to know that I was with her after a mile. I figured I’d then just try and stay with Sheri until I inevitably blew up. I had to blow because this pace was way too fast. My goal was to break 20 minutes, which is a 6:25/mile average. I figured after the first mile, I had 15 seconds in the bank. I wanted to do a 6:25 second mile and hopefully under 6:40 for the third, as I died.
That was the plan anyway, but when I pulled up to Sheri, she said, “Way to go, BB,” and that seemed to push me right on by. I was rolling and decided to just keep on rolling. I figured I was heading for a huge crash, but thought, “What the heck.” I caught and passed other runners. It was fun. I checked my heart rate and was pleased to see it well into the 170’s. In my earlier races I couldn’t break 170 despite hurting badly.
I went through the second mile in a shocking 6:02. I could practically jog it in and break twenty minutes at this point, but the pain was building. Still, I ran down and passed other runners. It is so motivating to have other runners to catch and pass. With around three minutes to go, there were two runners a ways ahead of me and I hoped to catch them with my kick. The pain grew intense and my pace dropped, though. I checked my heart rate monitor to see if I was just being wimpy, but it read 179 bpm. I looked over my shoulder to see if anyone was coming up on me. When a runner looks over his shoulder it is a sure sign that he is hurting and wants to shut down the pace, at least if he can afford it. Thankfully no one was that close and I eased a bit, giving up on the two in front.
We made the last turn onto the street and the final tenth of a mile to the finish. A spectator yells at me, “You can get those two!” and it renewed my interest. I kicked hard, knowing it was only thirty seconds or so to the finish. I flew by the two runners as the lead guy was dying big time and other guy didn’t have the legs to go with me. I opened up a huge gap on them. Then I felt like I was going to hurl. I looked over my shoulder once again. Knowing they weren’t coming for me and with less than ten seconds to go, I shut it down and avoided losing my breakfast.
I crossed the line in 14th place (13th male, 4th in my age group) in an altitude PR of 19:11! I was completely shocked by this unjustified performance, but thrilled with the result of course. My best ever 5K came this past Thanksgiving, also on little training, but that was at sea level in California. There I ran 18:52. My previous best in Colorado was 19:21. Granted this is a fast course – probably the fastest 5K course I’ve run – but it was still an encouraging result.
Sheri finished as 2nd woman and would win first in her age-group because they pulled the overall men’s and women’s winners out of the age group awards. Her time was 19:31 and this was somewhat disappointing to her. She had hoped to be closer to 19 minutes. Last year she ran 19:07 here. I was disappointed and a bit embarrassed to beat her. I really hate when that happens. It shouldn’t happen as she is clearly the faster runner, but everyone has the occasional bad day and we are close enough in speed that if she has a bad day when I have a good day, then I might take her. That’s what happened today. Hence, I never want to beat Sheri because that is equivalent to wanting her to have a bad day. Sheri never gets bothered by me finishing before her. She only gets down about her time, but not for long. You can’t be too down when you finish second in the race, first in your age group, and bring home a big trophy. Noelle took first again, finishing in 18:50 to claim the new course record.
The third mile was indeed the slowest, as it had all the climbing in it. It took me 6:26 for this mile – exactly the pace I need for a 40-minute 10K. I must admit that on the basis of this single anomaly, I’m thinking about trying to break 40 at the BB. Just twenty minutes earlier, at the start of the race, my plan was to shoot for breaking 42 minutes at the BB. Can lightning strike twice?
A good sign, finally, was my ability to get my heart rate high and keep it there. I finished the first mile with my heart rate at 169 (and an average of 164), the second at 177 (average of 174), and the third in 178 (average of 178!). On my final kick I hit 181 bpm. Still not the 190+ I could hit at low altitude or the 186 I hit last here in the Longmont 10K, but a far cry above the 168 or so in my previous 5K’s this year.
The question now is how long can I endure that pain? For a 10K? Not likely, but it will be fun (and painful) to find out in nine days, as I run my eleventh consecutive Bolder Boulder on the 25th running of this huge race. The Bolder Boulder is the 4th largest road race in the U.S. and apparently they are on pace for 50,000 runners this year. Daniel and Derek are going to run it as well! After Sheri and I finish, we’ll backtrack to the start and run it again with the kids. Magoo is in top shape and he’ll be shooting to break 50 minutes. The only other time he ran the race he did 1h17m, so this is a huge improvement. Being sixty pounds lighter helps a lot. I hope we both succeed…
