A Race Report

Bridgefest 5K - 2/2/2013

This was the third consecutive year racing the Bridgefest 5K in my hometown of Kingwood, TX. The race is put on by the local YMCA and the proceeds go to helping local schools. It is always a fun event and the race is a simple out and back over the big Bridge across Lake Houston.

Going into the race I wrote about how this was going to be the lightest weight at which I have ever raced. I had 4 previous 5k's and wanted to see how I could run on what turned out to be very little fitness. As luck would have it, I got the flu 10 days before the race. It was wonderful. But by the time race day rolled around I was feeling healthy again and decided to give it a go.

I lined up in the front and tried to hold back as the 97lb High School Cross Country kids shot out like they were fired from a bazooka. After about 500 yards I was free from all the congestion and had a lot of open space to operate. Mile 1 hit and I glanced at my Garmin for the first time and saw a 5:56 pace. This was too fast. Immediately I new that I was going to pay for that first mile with a lot of hurt in the last mile.

By mile 2 I had passed a few of the skinny HS kids and was also passed by a few people. One guy who passed reminded me of the pre-shaved headed Walter White from Breaking Bad. As he ran past I looked up at the guy and thought to myself, "The meth must be giving him super speed."

"You were just passed by Heisenberg, bitch!"

By about mile 2.5 I was in a world of hurt and just trying to hang on. My legs felt okay but my lungs were burning like hell.

Here is my pained-self heading to the finish:

Thems are the new Brooks Pure Connect 2s

Final results were:

Finish Time: 19:53
AG M30-39:  2/49
OA: 13/724
Old Dude Place: 3/a lot
Race Day Weight: 143.2lbs

2012 Time: 19:11
2012 Weight: 151lbs

Some other stats to compare 2012 to 2013:

- Total Training Miles for 3 months before 2012 Race: (Nov- 178mi ;Dec- 252mi ;Jan- 251mi = 681mi)
- Total Training Miles for 3 months before 2013 Race: (Nov- 46mi ;Dec- 20mi ;Jan- 80mi = 146mi)

So what did I learn from this little comparison of weight vs fitness?

Not much.

I had a decent race but when trained I am much faster. The real test would be to do this race next year at 143lbs and 681mi running the 3 previous months. Until that happens the results are going to have to remain inconclusive.

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff