This past weekend I completed the Frederick Nut Job Challenge which is the Frederick Twilight 5K on Saturday evening, May 7th and then the Frederick Half Marathon on Sunday morning, May 8th. I had done the Nut Job 4 years earlier in 2012 with a 5K time of 31:36 and the half marathon time of 2:07:14 and was hoping I could do a little better. My training since the DC marathon has been spotty at best, with a few 10 milers mixed in with a few other shorter distance runs so I wasn't sure how it was going to go.
I had a goal time of 26 high to 27 low for the 5K and about 2:05 low to 2:05 high for the half. I thought that was doable and within reach of what I was capable of on the day accounting for almost any weather condition outside of a 90 degree day or a crazy windy/rainy day. Weather conditions for both days were close to ideal except maybe a little bit on the humid side and Sunday started to get warm.
Saturday evening was a pre-cursor to a great weekend of racing for me. First there was the kid's fun runs which were great to watch. All these kids running around the old horse track that was there coming up to the finish line. After the fun run, the 5K runners started milling about. There are no corrals or anything to seed yourself, so I picked a location where I thought I belonged and maybe a little further back to try and not go out too hard. I was probably a little farther back than I should have been and kind of hooked on behind a couple of others who were going pretty quickly but not too hard. The pace felt a bit harder than I wanted for having to run the next morning but it also felt pretty comfortable. I looked at my watch at the turn around point and knew I was faster than 26 high and I just kept on going. I finished the 5K at 25:58 or about 8:20/mile and I felt pretty good. I ate a bit and then hopped in my car to get something to eat, use the foam roller/stick, and get a good night's sleep.
I woke up the next morning, feeling pretty good. I met my friend Erik at the start for the 2:00 pace group who we lost for a bit, before catching up. As I mentioned earlier with a 25:58 in my legs 12 hours before and no run longer than 10 miles, I wasn't sure what was going to happen. Once we caught up to the 2:00 pace group, I hooked on to them and let them drag me along. Erik jumped out ahead as he was feeling good and he set a PR at 1:55. I chose to stay back, seeing how I felt at 10 miles. I was OK but I was starting to overheat a bit and backed off the 2:00 pace group at 11 miles knowing I had some time to spare. I finished in 2:02:04 which was 3 minutes faster than 2:05 and I was happy with that. I knew I didn't have a PR in me for the day, although this is a PR for Frederick for me by 5 minutes. I ran the 16.2 miles in 2:28:02 which isn't bad.
The new half marathon course is really nice and takes your through Hood college. Next up for me is June 4th for the Baltimore 10 miler with Athletes Serving Athletes as well as June 5th for the Dot Dash 6K for ASA as well.
Keep on running.
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