Goal: To beat last year's time of 28:22
Today is the Winship "Win the Fight" 5K in support of the Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University. This is where my serious running began, nearly one year ago (Oct. 5, 2013). This is the first race that I have now run twice. Last year I was not experienced at running and my hope was just to finish under 30 minutes - and I would be satisfied to finish. Getting caught up in the exhilaration of my first 5K, I finished in 28:22 in 2013, and became a running addict at the moment that I passed under the finish banner! Bonnie also started running a few months later, and today she joins me on the Winship course, doing her eighth 5K.
With quite a bit more experience under my belt this year, I was confident that I could beat last year's time, but was unsure how well I might do relative to my personal record (25:23), as the Winship course is the hilliest of all of the 5Ks that I've run. It's ironic that my first 5K was on the most difficult course!
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| Altitude profile for the Winship 5K. After a short downhill stretch at the start, we run about one mile, rising from 860 ft to 988 ft in elevation. This is practically identical to Cardiac Hill, mile 4 of the Peachtree Road Race! |
I decided that I would identify markers along the route for a 25 minute pace, and set my race tracker on my phone to alert every 5 minutes. Thus I hoped to clear the Emory traffic circle within 5 minutes (km 1 on the map), make the turn onto Haygood Road before 10 minutes (km 2), reach Sorority Row very soon after 15 minutes (2 mile mark), pass the Emory Bookstore / Starbucks at 20 minutes (km 4), and then try not to slow down too badly going in the last part of the third mile before the finish. Even if I didn't finish in 25 minutes, I felt that I could at least get close to all of the markers, and that would help me to achieve my best possible time. Although the weather was cool this morning (64 degrees F at the start) and the distance would only be 5K, I elected to wear a water belt. Having suffered unpleasant "dry mouth" in the second half of the Atlanta's Finest 5K in August, I wasn't going to make that mistake again. And the water belt doesn't feel like I'm carrying any extra weight.
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| The race route: mile markers in magenta, kilometers in blue. The race begins down Dickey Drive, takes a left onto Eagle Row and another left onto Oxford Road, through the Emory Village traffic circle, shortly before km 1. The route then progresses steadily uphill on North Decatur Road past the mile 1 marker, reaching the peak after a sharp left turn onto Haygood Road, in front of Druid Hills High School. Circling counterclockwise around campus, we run a second time on the stretch from Dickey Drive to the Emory Village traffic circle, then entering through the main gate to campus, uphill to approach the hospital, and then making a left turn heading downhill and then mostly level to the finish. |
In the weeks since the Big Peach Sizzler on September 1, the summer weather has ended and the mornings are now pleasantly cool. When we left the house this morning, the cloud cover was heavy, and on the drive to Emory, there were fog droplets on the windshield. We parked and walked through light drizzle to McDonough Field near the center of campus, where the runners were gathering. As this was a fundraiser for cancer research, the pre-race speakers included several emotional and inspirational messages, reminding me of my father and maternal grandfather who had died of cancer in 2005 and 1978, respectively, as well as my mother-in-law who has not only survived but has had a complete remission and is thriving some 10 years after her bout with cancer.
Shortly before 8:30, we made our way to the starting line. Last year I had taken a modest position in the middle of the field and found myself behind a bunch of walkers, so this year I lined up quite a bit closer to the starting line. The drizzle had stopped, but the announcer encouraged us to take the turns carefully as the pavement was damp. With about one minute to go, I took a quick sip of water, and had just put away the water bottle when we got our signal to "get set", and then the gun sounded without delay.
Mile 1: It took less than 15 seconds to get to the starting line, and then we were off! We made a right turn shortly after the start, and headed downhill toward Peavine Creek. I was sailing down the street, reminding myself not to press too hard this early in the race. The road leveled out as we reached the chemistry building. When we made the turn onto Eagle Row, we had to work our way around a large truck that had somehow made its way onto campus before being stopped by the police guarding the race route. On the positive side there were many volunteers and a few spectators cheering us on. As we turned uphill toward the Emory Village traffic circle, I stole a look at my timer and saw 4 minutes elapsed. I was pleased that I didn't hear the 5 minute alert until shortly after we had passed the traffic circle and were on North Decatur Road. Right on track with the plan! However the road was steadily uphill and so I definitely slowed down, as some runners passed me. Surprisingly, this did not bother me nearly as much as it did in last year's race, now that I appreciate the value of conserving some energy early in the race. Last year the Druid Hills High School Spirit Band was entertaining runners in front of the Schwartz Center shortly before we reached Clifton Road, but today all was quiet. Shortly after passing the Law School, I saw the mile 1 marker. Mile 1 in 8:14.
Mile 2: I didn't hear the audio alert for 10 minutes but as I made the turn onto Haygood Road, I could see that my timer was already reading 10 minutes and some seconds. But I wasn't too disappointed to slightly miss the second mark, given that we had run uphill for the better part of a mile. I knew that I could make up some ground on the downhill sections ahead. The water stop was in front of Druid Hills High School, but most of us passed by the water stop. It was a relief to reach the crest of the hill, and I knew from training runs that this would be the highest point of the race. I was happy with my overall progress at this stage of the race. Shortly before we reached Clifton Road, there was a speed monitor along the side of the road to inform drivers if they were adhering to or exceeding the 30 mph speed limit. I had not expected that the monitor could detect people running, and was excited to see "7" flashing as we reached and then passed the monitor. 7 mph could translate to a 25 minute finish. As we approached Clifton Road I could see 13 minutes elapsed on my timer. Even though the road was downhill again, I was wondering how far I could get before we reached 15 minutes, and the alert sounded before we reached Sorority Row. But soon after the alert we went over a small hill and around a small curve in the road, and there was a large and enthusiastic crowd of spectators in front of Sorority Row cheering us on, and the Spirit Band was playing. There were no runners to my right so I was able to give some of the spectators hand slaps as I ran past. The last hand slap actually gave my right shoulder a twinge (still a little muscle damage remains from the broken collarbone in April) but I also rocketed forward as I cleared the spectators. When I checked afterwards, I had reached 9 mph in this section! 16:19 at the 2-mile mark.
Mile 3 began with a long downhill run toward Peavine Creek. This would be my last chance to make up any time, and I was able to maintain a great pace in this stage of the race. I remembered that I was quite tired by this point last year, but today I felt that I still had a bit of reserve and that I might even gain some regenerative energy heading downhill. Turning onto Oxford Road, I saw that my timer was at 19 minutes, so indeed I had made up a little time. The 20 minute alert sounded as I approached the Emory Bookstore / Starbuck's, so I was only a few seconds behind my "dream pace" at this stage of the race. In the time since we had first passed through this area, several cars had parked in front of the Bookstore and we had to work past the 'obstacles' although truthfully I don't think it slowed anyone down. Now the tough part of the race was coming: uphill into the Emory Village traffic circle, uphill through the main gate onto campus, then a right turn and more uphill behind the campus church. As I was slowing down anyway, I took a sip from the water bottle and squirted some water on the back of my neck, to fortify myself for the steepest part of the race to come. Left at the Rich Building and immediately right, then up the steep hill between Woodruff Library and Goizueta Business School. Last year this stage reduced me to a walk: this year I managed to run uphill without dropping below 5 mph. Then, the long-awaited left turn and downhill to the finish! I didn't manage to speed up as much as I wished and actually did better when the road leveled out. As I reached the 3 mile marker, shortly before Asbury Circle, I heard the 25 minute alert. According to my tracker, I reached the 3-mile mark at 24:55.
The finish: I knew that I was definitely going to smash my old time, but I probably wasn't going to set a personal record. But given the hilliness of the course, that was nothing to be disappointed about. I pushed myself as hard as I could toward the finish line. As we crossed Asbury Circle, I finally saw the banner marking the finish and saw 25 minutes and 30-something seconds on the clock. The seconds seemed to race forward, faster than I was running, but I wasn't going to let that clock pass 25:59! I don't remember any of the other runners or seeing or hearing spectators as I put every last calorie of energy into the finish. I was focused on watching the clock and running as fast as I could manage. The last number I saw was 25:57 as I reached the finish line!
I accepted a bottle of water and a banana but kept walking for two or three minutes to allow my pulse to slow a bit. Finally I managed to open the water bottle and eat the banana as I returned to the finish line. I walked back along the last several hundred yards of the race to wait for Bonnie at the top of the hill. I managed to get several good photos as she worked her way up the hill - and I was really happy for her that there were a lot of people behind her! I raced back to the finish line to get a last photo of her crossing the finish line, but was unable to get the best position and as I saw her approach the line, some guy stepped in front of me and I had to move to get a shot - hence her finishing photo was a little blurry, but the time is visible - and she also set a personal record today!
Metric splits by kilometer: 4:48, 5:31, 4:54, 4:49, 5:32. Km 2 and 5 had long uphill stretches, so overall that felt pretty consistent. The mile splits were 8:14, 8:05, and 8:36.
Goal: To beat last year's time of 28:22: Achieved! Official time 25:44, third best for me in the 5K distance.
That time may qualify me again for wave C in the Peachtree Road Race, if the same time standards are used in 2015 (under 25:54).
Next race: Cartersville 10K, October 4.
Links: Winship 5K Results Video
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