The Greenwood Center MDCC 5K

We held our 5K Tuesday afternoon October the oneth. It's Homecoming week and the school and even our little campus is full of activities. We, three teachers and about twenty students, met up at a little before 3:00 p.m. and motored to the Rail Spike Park, an old railroad bed turned into a walking/running trail, which runs from the world famous Crystal Grill to Highway 82. There and back makes 2.99 miles, close enough to call a 5K.

We are still in the grip of high pressure, and the temperature at the start was 97 with a heat index of 103. We set a record high in Greenwood and will likely do so Wednesday and Thursday also. The trail has little to no shade. I was wondering how my recent 10K pace would translate in this heat. I found out, and it was not pretty. I was hoping the shorter distance would allow me to hold out at a good clip. Not in this heat.

When we started, I was in the lead for a few steps then near the lead for a few more. A young woman passed me and opened up about an eight foot lead. Behind me I could hear a gaggle of ladies on my heels. I'm going to have some competition, I thought. 

A small section of our crew

Then a young man came around me like he was an Olympic 400 meter man. I was doomed. But he slowed to a walk, and I passed him and the lady who had been in the lead. I was now in sole possession of first place at .24 miles in. I glanced at my watch: 9:07 per mile. Too fast? I wondered.

I knew Katie Jones was back there, and I also knew that I could beat her. Not now. In the past I used to, but I am not in top form and she is in pretty good shape. What was she doing? I asked myself. Maybe she doesn't want to win today. Maybe she just wants a workout in this heat. At .68 miles I found out what she was doing. She rolled around me and shot, "It's hot, Hodge." I glanced at my watch: 9:24. She was smartly pacing. I was slowing and there she went. I was now running for second place.

I tried to hold on the best I could. The best I could was not very good. At the turnaround I was anxious to see if anyone was stalking me. I went .4 of a mile back before I met the next contestant. That meant I had a .8 lead on him, the 400 meter man. Unless I died, I was going to beat him. I did, however, suffer a metaphorical death. My Garmin was set to auto lap every mile so I could get my splits. I did the first mile in 9:31 and mile two in 10:55. How do you spell crash and burn? 

Believe it or not, the third mile was even slower, and the suffer meter hit late miles of a marathon level. I did not think it was possible to suffer that much on such a short run. I slowed to over 12 minutes per mile. My legs would barely move, and my body temperature was redlining. I looked behind several times to see if someone was creeping up on me. I was relieved to see no one was going to challenge me. I could not have responded if someone had. 

Just hold on, Zane, just hold on, I told myself over and over. And I did, and I finished in 32:38 at an average pace of 10:55. Mile three, a veritable suffer fest, was a miserable 12:19.

What did I learn? I learned that I am still capable, good at, an expert at going out too fast. Will I ever learn? I guess part of the problem is fitness is a moving target. I now know that I am not fit enough to run fast in this heat. Maybe no one is. Tomorrow I have a chance to try it again. I need to go out in 10:30. Maybe then I can speed up on mile two and not suffer so much on mile three. Maybe. I'll let you know how it goes.