Luke - 12

Citrus Heritage 5k/10k

I had gone to bed at like 8:30 on Saturday, so getting up at 4:45 wasn't too bad. Had a bagel and a banana and took a quick shower and my mother and I left for Riverside at about 5:20. Got to the mall where it was being held just before 6, and went and registered for both the races and then my mom and I went back to the car and drove to the parking garage since we'd parked in a lot that was a bit far from the start/finish. Started warming up about 6:25, did a couple miles and then changed into my racing shoes (the Universes) and put my jersey on (a cool new Adidas one that I bought a couple days ago). Did a couple strides and went to the front of the start (when I got there the entire front was a group of junior-high kids). No one there looked particularly fast, there was a guy with dreadlocks who looked like a high-schooler, who I figured would go out too fast, and some Masters-looking guys. We ended up starting like 5 minutes before 7, which I'd've been pissed about if I'd missed the start. A few people went out pretty quick but died just as quickly, and I found myself in first after about a quarter mile. Dreadlocks guy was right behind me, and actually passed me at about 3/4-mile. I was hoping he would die at about a mile, but he was putting distance on me. Came through the mile at 4:53, which I assumed was off because it definitely didn't feel that fast. An older guy in blue passed me just past the mile mark, so I ran with him for a bit trying to catch dreadlocks, but they both ended up taking off from me. The course was pretty much out-and-back, so I could see them in front of me, the guy in blue maybe close enough to catch, and I could see that no one was close to catching me. Passed the second mile in 5:22, but I'm guessing my mile splits were closer to 5:05/5:10, which is right where I wanted to be. There was a slight downhill on the way back, so I tried to hit it hard, but I wasn't catching up at all. I didn't see a third mile marker, but my last split was 5:46, which is 5:14 pace. As I got to the end I didn't think I'd be near 16, so I thought about letting up a bit to save energy for the second race, but I still kicked a bit, and ended up at 16:02. I think if I'd really gone all out I could have knocked a second off that, but not the 2 or 3 needed for 16-flat or sub-16. A big PR anyway, and I got $75 for my third-place finish.

The guy who won ran a 15:25, and they said his name was "Ezekias Sisay" which sounded sufficiently Kenyan enough for me not to worry about losing to him. Turns out his name is actually Ezkyas Sisay, and he was the 2006 Ethiopian National Champion in the Steeplechase, and has run 29:49 for 10k and something like 1:03 for a half marathon (though I didn't find that out until Monday). He and two women were there from Flagstaff to do some training and get paid. I asked him between races if he was doing the 10k also and he said, "Yes, training."

So after the 5k I walked around a bit and did a little bit of jogging and just generally tried to keep my legs feeling as loose as possible. At the line for the 10k the competition looked a bit better (the prize money was double that of the 5k) and I figured I wouldn't have much of a shot of placing in the money. At the start there was a big group, maybe 12-15, in front of me, but by mile 1 I was in tenth. Passed it at 5:43, which seemed slow, but was probably right since my legs were a bit tired. In front of me was a guy in gray, who I tried to catch up to. Wasn't able to catch him by mile 2, which I passed in 5:45, but the guy in front of him, in white, looked like he was dying. I didn't see mile markers for 3 or 4, but I caught the guy in white at about 3 miles (it took forever!) but hadn't really caught up to the guy in gray at all. At the turnaround I could see the people in front, led by Sisay, with a chick (who looked like Tirunesh Dibaba) in third place overall. The fourth mile was a perfectly gradual downhill, so I put a big move in to catch the guy in gray. I caught him at the bottom of the hill, held him off as the course went up a slight incline, and then took off from him as the course flattened out. I focused on the next guy, who was wearing a Morocco jersey (green on front, red on back) and looked slightly like Hicham El Guerrouj. My split for miles 3-5 was 16:34, which was probably something like 5:40/5:35/5:19. As I tried to catch Morocco guy, guy in gray caught back up, and I held him off and pulled away, then he caught back up again, and I held him off and pulled away, then he caught back up one last time before I was able to break him for good. About a half a mile to go I was still a good fifty or sixty meters back of Morocco guy, but I was definitely closing. We turned into the mall parking lot and I passed the sixth mile marker in 5:22, 20-30 meters back of Morocco guy. I started really kicking and as we turned around the last corner I was 10-15 meters back with about 100 meters to go. He hadn't looked back in a while so I don't think he knew how close I was. I was really kicking hard, but my legs were pretty dead from having 9 miles of hard running in them already. I was about 5m back at 50m to go, and he looked back and saw me and kicked a little harder, but I was still running him down, and the crowd was getting pumped, but at the end my legs just couldn't get to that next gear and he and I finished with the same time, but with him ahead of me. My time was 34:31, which I am fine with under the circumstances. The winner was the same guy who won the 5k, and apparently it was a close finish for him as well, 32:22 to 32:23. Third place was 32:52, so even if I'd gone in fresh I wouldn't have been in the money. The first place female ran 33:0x, which is ridiculously fast.

Overall a very successful day, and my mom and sister and nephew were all out to see me race, which was fun. I got a third-place medal for the 5k, and a second-place medal for the 10k since I was second in my age group (they wouldn't give me a first-place medal for winning my age group in the 5k though). Next stop, 15s!