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What: HARRC Winter Series 5k

Where: Harrisburg East Shore YMCA

When: Jan 19th 9:00 AM

Executive Summary: nice small race, fairly flat (1 small down, 1 small up section), 5th overall, 19:57

I arrived at the East Shore YMCA just after 8:30 to register for the race. Given the brisk (high-20s) temperatures, it was fantastic to have the registration process in a nice heated building with real restrooms. I caught up with a few people I’ve met from the HARRC and then spied Nate. Nate and I went for a mile or so easy warm-up, ditched our extra gear, and headed to the starting area. We had pretty close to perfect timing, only needing to wait two minutes or so before the start of the race.

Marge Lebo, the race organizer, gave a few comments on the course, said a quick thanks, and turned it over to one of the people from the charity that the race was supporting. The “charity guy” spoke for a few seconds, and then we were off. It is always pleasant when the pre-start formalities are quick.

The course started on the upper level sidewalk heading south towards the Market Street Bridge. After just over a quarter-mile, we passed the bridge, headed down the hill, and then did a 150 degree turn so we were running north on the lower level sidewalk next to the river. There were occasionally small patches of ice, but in general the surface conditions were pretty good. I hit the first mile in 6:09.

The second mile continues along the lower-level of the river and ends as you are climbing up the hill to get back to street level. As I went up the hill, I was in 4th place (3rd was probably 40-50 seconds ahead), and I saw Steve Whittle taking pictures. After cresting the hill, I started turning right to head back towards the starting area. After about 20 feet, I could hear someone yelling “left, left”. I turned back and saw Steve pointing towards some cones that were about a hundred yards away. I also saw Gary Grobeman, who had now moved into 4th place, heading towards the cones. I did a quick 180 turn and headed towards the cones. 2nd mile split was 6:44.

The 3rd mile was nice and flat along the upper-level section. After looping around the cones, I could see Gary was pulling farther away from me, and it looked like I had about 15-20 seconds on the next runners behind me. I was sort of stuck in a no-man’s land and did my best to make sure I kept a decent pace up to the finish. I looked behind me a few times, but couldn’t see anyone moving in on my position and held the effort pretty steady. As I got close to the finish area and saw the clock ticking towards 20:00, I sprinted in the last 80 yards or so to register a 19:57 final time. 3rd mile split was 6:35.

I was fairly happy with the race, but hope I can mentally dig a little deeper next time. My average heart rate was 4 BPM lower (175 versus 179 at the Thanksgiving 5k). I’m also a a bit frustrated at the small course error I made, but it is tough in a small race if there aren’t a lot of people around you. Thanks to Gary and Steve for yelling and getting me back on track, I would have felt horrible (and been disqualified) if I accidentally cut out 300 yards. Checking the Garmin tracks, it looks like I probably cost myself about 8 seconds.

The post-race festivities were held back in the warmth at the YMCA. They had plenty of good food and drinks. I received a pair of gloves (I traded them to Nate for a blanket, since he needed a warmer pair of gloves) for getting 5th overall, and 1st in the 30-39 age group, which was pretty cool. They also gave away a bunch of door prizes to some lucky folks. Thanks to Marge Lebo and the volunteers for putting together a nice race.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 19th, 2008 at 8:25 pm and is filed under running. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.