I ran a 5k this morning as a tune up of sorts for the St. George Marathon next Saturday. I ran about a 5.5 mile warm-up, followed by the race and a cool down to finish up with 12 miles for the day. The race went well. The course is super slow as it has some nasty hills in it. The race was a battle of the genders up at the front as the women had 3:00 subtracted from their times in order to compete for prizes. I knew that I had no chance of putting 3:00 on Lindsay Dunkley, but I wanted to see how big of a gap I could put on her. Anyhow, I started off running hard, and I went through the mile in 4:58. I continued to push during the second mile and I ran a 5:04 (10:02 for 2 miles). During the third mile my lack of 5k training took its toll as I started to get a side cramp, and I began to have trouble pushing myself and I slowed considerably, running a 5:20 (15:22 for 3 miles). I finished in 15:54 to cross the line as the first finisher. Lindsay finished 1:27 behind me to take first place. I think that for future races of this nature that a 2:00 gap would be better than 3:00. It would not have changed the outcome of the race at all, but I think that 3:00 is an unfair handicap for the men. Anyhow, I think that after St. George I want to try and improve my 5k speed. I need to get faster at that distance if I want to run faster at longer distances.
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