Beacon of Hope 5k

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After a week of feeling a bit sorry for myself with a sore throat and head cold, I decided to have a blow out this morning and run a local 5k; the Beacon of Hope 5k held at Fort Story, Virginia Beach.

I arrived about an hour before the 9am start time, leaving plenty of time to register, pick up the race packet and chat with a few friends. I planned on a 2 mile warm up but must have chatted for a bit too long; I asked my wife the time and it was already 8:32….

I made do with a 1.5 mile leg-stretcher before taking my place on the start line a few minutes before 9am. A few late registrants held things up slightly, but I used the extra time to stretch a little and focus on the 3.1 miles that lay ahead of me (click above photo for an enlarged view).

The horn started the race at 9:03am and we were off. 4 or 5 runners sprinted ahead (as seems to be the norm for most races these days), but I held back somewhat and settled in to a fairly comfortable rhythm. Without really trying I quickly caught one of the younger quick-starters, but the remaining 3 were still battling it out about 50 metres ahead of me. No need to surge at this stage in the race as I had a feeling at least a couple of them would soon be coming back to me.

I was right; one of them soon fell off the back and before I knew it I was level and then ahead of him. Another 75 metres of steady pace running put me into second place and now at the mile marker (which was a little long by the way) I was right on the tail of the lead guy.

This time I decided to surge and somewhat surprisingly, slowly but surely I pulled away. From here to the finish line it was really a race into the wind and against the clock. According to my Garmin, the first 2 miles were both 5:36’s. I slowed somewhat on the long straight road to the finish, but kept something in reserve in case the second place guy launched a comeback.

I crossed the line in 17:45, some 27 seconds in front of second place and feeling quite happy with my time considering the week of sickness I’ve just experienced.

As an added bonus I was presented with $25 cash at the awards ceremony for the first place finish, which to the best of my knowledge wasn’t advertised on the event flyer; a very nice surprise after a confidence-boosting race!

Results - courtesy of Tidewater Striders

Garmin GPS info - courtesy of Garmin Connect

By the way, McMillan Running Calculator has me at 2:53:02 for the Richmond Marathon based on today’s 17:45 time. Let’s hope my strength is still in the longer event…..