Thanksgiving day race - Pie and Glove 5K, Corning, NY

Pie and Glove 5K, Corning, NY - 16:37 (5:21) 5th place

This was my 6th running of this race.  It's a great flat and fast course in Corning, NY.  I was hoping to be around 16:30 and I was pretty close.  The race went out and the winner shot right to the lead.  He would go on to win unchallenged in 15:16.  I was in a nice little pack of 4 runners through the first mile which runs mostly on a slight downhill with a little uphill early up and over a bridge.  I hit the mile in 5:07 which was a little fast but it was where I wanted to be in the race.  I was sitting behind two runners just drafting.  They started to slowly pull away from me in the second mile, which is the flattest mile on the course with over half being very slightly downhill.  In my fastest year here (2012 - 15:13) I ran a 4:47 for this mile.  I felt like I was maintaining my pace but the 2 guys I was with in the first mile got about 5 seconds up on me.  I hit the 2mi mark in 10:18.  A 5:11 second mile.  Not too bad.  Time to hang on.  Maybe I was going to run faster than I thought! 

The 3rd mile became a struggle.  It goes slightly uphill and then climbs back up the bridge we cross early in the first mile.  This side however, is the steeper side of the hill.  I got passed and dropped to 5th place.  I worked hard on the climb and caught back up to the 4th place kid.  I ran on his shoulder and then passed him as we came down the other side of the bridge.  He came back onto my shoulder as we hit the 3mile mark.  I glanced at my watch and saw I ran a 5:42 mile.  Ouch!  The 2 guys ahead were a good 20 seconds up now.  I didn't have a kick and the kid beat me to the line and I crossed 2 seconds later in 16:37.  I won my age group since the winner (31 years old) was taken out of the age group awards.  For my effort I won a pie to go with my gloves that everyone gets for signing up, thus the Pie and Glove 5k name.  It was a decent race but I clearly went out too fast for my fitness level.  If I had gone more conservatively, I might have run sub 16:30.  It did motivate me a little and makes me want to train more this winter to get in shape for the spring.  I'll definitely do some snowshoe races this winter to test my fitness and have a little fun in the snow. 

miles:  5:07, 5:11, 5:42, 36