Another reason I was pumped up about the race is my son Kris had sent me some new Nike Zoom Fly shoes and I was really excited to try them out.
We got to the race about an hour before the start and grabbed our bibs. I put the new shoes on and did a mile and a quarter easy run to feel them out. They definitely felt different than anything I had ever worn. I could feel the plate inside the shoe as I rocked forward while running slow. After my warm-up, I headed back to the car to shed my sweats and get ready for the race. By this time Trevor, Andrea, Mark, and Joan had joined us. We all headed to the start area where we found Melissa and Lacey, also from Lebec. I did my drills and strides and moved towards the front to wait for the starting command.
Spectacular morning for the 2018 Bakersfield St. Patrick's Day 5k
Jeff Moffit, the race director came to the front, gave us all the pertinent race instructions, and we were off. We had only gone a few hundred yards when I checked my Garmin watch for my pace and I was running way too fast. I made an effort to slow down and I settled into a pace that felt fast but comfortable. Soon I forgot all about the shoes and just zoned in on my race. I felt my watch buzz and I looked down to check my split. I was shocked to see a 6:20 on the screen. I figured it was too late to do anything about going too quick now so I decided to keep pushing until I blew up and staggered into the finish. It wasn't much farther when I came across the two leaders running side by side on their way back.
The two leaders battling it out at the 2018 Bakersfield St. Patrick's Day 5k.
When I got close to the turn around I saw there was nothing to go around. There were two trash receptacles on the left side and the two guys in front of me that I could see just turned around at the second yellow barrel. It seemed a little strange but according to my watch, we were close to halfway.
The way out on the out and back course was a slight downhill which meant the way back would be slightly uphill. The bike path also had two underpasses each way we had to navigate which threw a little hill in at each one. Soon my watch buzzed again and I looked down to check my split. It was a 6:23. I thought not too bad considering I had to slow down and re-accelerate at the turnaround. Now I just had to maintain the pace to the finish.
I really concentrated on my arms, just keep them moving but I could feel myself slowing down ever so slightly as we went up the gradual grade. Still, I was way ahead of where I thought I would be time wise. One of the underpasses happens relatively close to the finish and it really did me in. I dug deep and tried to maintain form all the way to the line. My third mile was a 6:37, so I slowed down 15 seconds over mile two. My final time for the race was 19:35, but I think the course might have been a little short. My Garmin said 3.05 miles so I was probably 20-30 seconds short of a 5k but my time was still about a minute faster than I expected to run.
I quickly grabbed a bottle of water from one of the many helpful volunteers and started walking backward on the course cheering on the finishers as they came in. It wasn't long before I saw Trevor, then a few minutes later came Mark.
Trevor powering to the finish sporting his green colors at the St. Patrick's Day 5k.
With Mark and Trevor finished I started running back along the course to look for Robin. Somehow I missed Lacey, but I did see Melissa, then a few seconds later I found Robin. I ran with her to the finish to complete my warm down.
The awards ceremony happened soon after everyone had finished. I was 8th overall, and first in the 50-59 age group. Melissa took 1st in the 60-69 females with Robin second. Mark won a couple of prizes for his costume so we all left happy and headed to BJ's for post-run nourishment and beverages.
The cool age group medals had a built-in bottle opener on the back.
My Bison Burger and salad at BJ's after the St. Patrick's Day 5k.
The course was easy so I'll call this a lager race. The entry was fair, 25.00 for a late entry that included a shirt. There was an abundance of volunteers to help with everything except for the turnaround point. In spite of this, with the cool awards that were given out, I'm going to call this a 5 lager race out of a possible of six. The race needed a cone to go around at the halfway point, and free Guinness for the adults would have been a nice touch on St. Patrick's Day. On top of all this, I really liked my new shoes and a shoe report will be forthcoming after some more miles in them.
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