Spring Valley 5k Race Report
Updated: The official results finally got posted. My final time was 20:49.5, placing 22nd out of 135.
What: Spring Valley 5k (York Winter Series)
Where: Spring Valley Park, New Freedom PA
When: January 6th 200, 2:00 pm
Executive Summary: finished in 20:5X, well marked but really hilly course, $7 entry fee rocks
Full Report:
I could tell it was going to be a well managed race as I was driving towards Spring Valley Park. At about 2 miles outside the park I started encountering arrows marked “runners” that told cars where to go. As I pulled into the race area, volunteers were directing people where to park. I walked up to the registration area, handed over my registration form and $7 (cheapest non-free race I think I’ve entered) and got my bib within about 30 seconds.
I started doing a light warm up about 20 minutes before the race and looked around for anyone I might know and ran into John. We hadn’t met in person, but I was pretty sure I recognized him from his website. I introduced myself, he introduced me to his wife Jamie, and then we did a couple of warm up jogs together in the perfect 50s weather while waiting for the race to start. John mentioned that he had heard it was a pretty hilly course, so I put all thoughts of a new personal record out the window.
Turnout for the race was pretty solid, I’d estimate there were 120 or so people running. We lined up, kind of heard a few last minute annoucements, and were off.
The course goes on a bit of a downhill for the first 1/10th of a mile, then cut a 90 degree turn to the left. This started the first climb, which lasted about .3 miles and had about 80 feet of rise. As we started going up the hill, I was a bit unsure on what appropriate pacing should be. I hadn’t run hills with any intensity in quite a while. I decided to push moderately hard and see how my legs felt. As we crested the hill, we had a very long and steep down hill section. This took us almost 200 feet down in a third of a mile. I was doing my best trying to relax and let gravity do the work, but my feet were definitely making a loud pounding sound. This definitely wasn’t a case of high-efficiency running. We then hit a flat area for a little bit, and had to do a 180 turn around a cone. There was bit of a”single-level cloverleaf” pattern where we had the faster runners running through the stream of slower runners. I think if a few additional cones were used that area could have been made a little bit smoother. I hit the first mile in 6:39 according to my Garmin (probably was a bit long because of all the turns). The next part of the race was mostly rolling hills, with one moderately steep up and down part thrown in. I hit a marked 2 mile sign around 13:45. During some of the uphill parts, I felt like my speed must have been around 9 minute miles. I was actually wondering at one point how much time would be lost walking the steepest parts, but kept chugging away and didn’t give in.
During the last half-mile or so, we ended up doubling back towards the starting area. I was jockeying for (an unknown) position with 2 other runners. I was struggling as we crested the top of the last big hill, and the younger guy passed me by a few feet as we started going down the 1/3 mile hill before the turn towards the finish line. As we ran around the final curve, I could see the finish line and felt the adrenalin pumping. I was able to finish with a strong kick, putting a few seconds on my competitor. I’m always a bit conflicted when I end with a strong finish. It is definitely a nice feeling, but I always wish I had made better use of the energy by dispersing it over the last mile rather than the last 100 yards. Final time was 20:5X.
Overall Thoughts: Reasonably happy with the effort, although it is hard to say how much the elevation changes slowed me down. I definitely need more practice on my technique for running up and down hills. The funny thing is that I mentioned this to Jon Laman during our 10 miler yesterday, but wasn’t planning on getting the practice during a race 28 hours later.
Elevation graph for the race (approx 550 feet of climb and descent)
January 7th, 2008 at 1:32 am
[...] It started a little after the scheduled 2 PM start time, but that was fine with me. I met up with Bill H. and was able to get some much needed warm-up time by doing some laps around the park. Then it was [...]
January 14th, 2008 at 2:41 am
[...] a bit bizarre from a running perspective. My lower legs were really sore on Monday and Tuesday from Sunday’s race, so I didn’t run at all either day. The combination of a paved very hilly course and racing [...]