{"id":1717,"date":"2023-12-04T00:48:56","date_gmt":"2023-12-04T00:48:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/untamedrunner.com\/?p=1717"},"modified":"2023-12-04T00:48:56","modified_gmt":"2023-12-04T00:48:56","slug":"closing-out-the-race-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/untamedrunner.com\/index.php\/2023\/12\/04\/closing-out-the-race-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Closing out the race season…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We travelled to my in-laws\u2019 in Ohio for Thanksgiving and there was a 5K, the Fall Classic<\/a>, near their house that week. I hadn\u2019t fully given up on the idea of going under 19:00 for a 5K this year and since we were going to be roughly 5,000 feet lower in elevation than normal, I decided to take full advantage of that for my last race of the season.

It was held in their local Metroparks and the course was billed as flat and fast. Rule of thumb is that you can pick up 30-45 seconds for a 5K when you go from elevation to sea level. I did a tune-up race two weeks ahead in early November and in that one, I posted a 19:27 on a course that ended up being 3.05 miles. When I projected that out to a full 3.1 miles, the time came to 19:46. Getting sub-19:00 was going to be very, very close.

Some race courses, like the one I did for the tune-up, are not USATF certified and thus can be a little short. If a course is USATF certified, it means that it\u2019s at least the race distance, and possibly a bit longer. Even if the shortest possible distance is a true 3.1 miles, the odds of any runner hitting that is slim as you need to run the tangents and curves with perfection. Not an easy task. And, I\u2019ve heard that some courses will err on the side of being just a teeny bit long so that they can earn and keep the certification. To put it plainly, it\u2019s very rare to hit 3.1 exactly.

As we lined up for the Fall Classic, the Race Director confirmed that the course was indeed USATF certified. This was good because if I went sub-19:00, there was no way the course would be short. The question was whether it would turn out to be 3.1 plus just a tiny bit, or longer. The further it went over 3.1, the more my chances dropped for getting the sub-19:00 on my net time.

Like most races, this one took significant effort and I was maxing out relative to the course length. However, while racing at sea level hurts at a level commensurate with racing at elevation there are two differences. One is hard to pin down but suffice to say that I can tell I\u2019m getting more oxygen. The second, obviously, is that I\u2019m running faster which helps mentally.

I crossed the line with 3.16 miles on my watch and a time of 19:16. A few moments after I hit the \u201cStop\u201d button, my watch flashed \u201cFastest 5K, 18:55.\u201d This meant that for the true 5K distance or 3.1 miles, I had gone sub-19:00. Gratifying, bittersweet, and the way racing sometimes goes. To brag a little, my mile splits were 6:06\/6:08\/6:08 which I was very pleased with from a consistency standpoint. That would be a breakdown I could hope for on the track, where you have constant markers and it\u2019s flat. On the road, it\u2019s more challenging.
A good end to the season? Combining the solid time, the even splits, and an age group place, I\u2019ll take it.

Two quick plugs. If you\u2019re in the Cleveland area and looking for a good spot to run, the Metroparks<\/a> I\u2019ve been in, which are known as part of the \u201cEmerald Necklace,\u201d are excellent for running. Also, the Fall Classic was well worth it. The fee was fairly standard but you got a quarter-zip pullover, a good chili buffet and finishing area at the end of the race, and most importantly, a closed road course\u2014no negotiating other pedestrians, cyclists, etc. Normally that level of service would mean a much higher fee but not so there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We travelled to my in-laws\u2019 in Ohio for Thanksgiving and there was a 5K, the Fall Classic, near their house that week. I hadn\u2019t fully given up on the idea of going under 19:00 for a 5K this year and since we were going to be roughly 5,000 feet lower in elevation than normal, I … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Closing out the race season…”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9W0ku-rH","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1570,"url":"https:\/\/untamedrunner.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/22\/balancing-tech-with-gut\/","url_meta":{"origin":1717,"position":0},"title":"Balancing tech with gut…","author":"36jonraessler50","date":"April 22, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Race season is starting up for me and with that, learning a couple of new things. On a quick recap for The Dry Creek Striders, we\u2019ve been at a few races already and we\u2019ve enjoyed two overall wins, three podium finishes, and an age group win. At the Beat the\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":782,"url":"https:\/\/untamedrunner.com\/index.php\/2019\/10\/10\/awry-and-according-to-plan\/","url_meta":{"origin":1717,"position":1},"title":"Awry and according to plan…","author":"36jonraessler50","date":"October 10, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"In last week\u2019s post, I mentioned I was running a 5K on October 6th and I wanted to get at least 19:54. The previous year\u2019s winning time had been 20:42 so I partly hoped I could win the race. Races hand out awards differently. Most do the traditional top three\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1202,"url":"https:\/\/untamedrunner.com\/index.php\/2021\/11\/26\/measurements\/","url_meta":{"origin":1717,"position":2},"title":"Measurements…","author":"36jonraessler50","date":"November 26, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Course measurement is a critical part of any race and with the proliferation of GPS watches, is something that sparks plenty of post-race discussion. Prior to these watches becoming a relatively common asset, there was no easy way to see how far you ran compared to the published distance. Now,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":703,"url":"https:\/\/untamedrunner.com\/index.php\/2019\/07\/11\/you-can-take-the-runner-out-of-the-5k\/","url_meta":{"origin":1717,"position":3},"title":"You can take the runner out of the 5K\u2026","author":"36jonraessler50","date":"July 11, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"After winning the last-ever Jackalope 5K in Laramie, Wyoming a little over a year ago, held on a beautiful course and on a beautiful day, I figured it had been a good final race at that distance. It\u2019s the second-most difficult event to compete in, just behind the grueling 800M.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":204,"url":"https:\/\/untamedrunner.com\/index.php\/2018\/06\/28\/race-choices\/","url_meta":{"origin":1717,"position":4},"title":"Race choices…","author":"36jonraessler50","date":"June 28, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Why did the hamburger beat the runner in a race? See the end of this post for the answer. Many people start running to attempt a certain event. Or, maybe you start running and then think a race might be fun. Or, maybe you haven't raced in a while but\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/untamedrunner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/6-28-2018-Photo-e1530219037748.jpg?fit=360%2C497&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1637,"url":"https:\/\/untamedrunner.com\/index.php\/2023\/07\/16\/when-you-dont-know\/","url_meta":{"origin":1717,"position":5},"title":"When you don’t know…","author":"36jonraessler50","date":"July 16, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Over the past couple of months, as has been evident in my blog posts, I've wondered whether I'm still able to go under 19:00 in a 5K. 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