MEC 5k Race #8

7 weeks of 20k per week, all at easy pace to recover from overtraining and multiple minor injuries saw me line up for the last MEC race of the year. The start/ finish was at the base of hill which is towards the end of my previous race, the Harvest Half. 

The choices were 5, 10 or 15. 15 would've been a guaranteed PB, always a temptation. I went for the 5k, to give myself my first speed work since early October. Some icy patches and my general condition made me decide that sub-21 minutes would be a successful day. 

Rich was aiming to get his first sub-20. He knew not to wait around for me, I wouldn't be getting close to my 19:18 PB. 

What would we do without the wags? We would freeze, enjoy race day less, and have no-one to take pictures of us goofing around. 

I wore the gopro using the "chesty" mount. While there were plenty of screengrabs, I'll only race with the head mount in future. The camera swayed from side to side, making for a dizzying picture. Plus the straps gave me moobs.

Quick warm-up and race time.

First item of business was clearing the kids before the first corner.

I wore running tights for this race. I usually only wear them under track pants when it's super-cold. It was almost shorts weather, but perhaps my inner-extrovert wanted to make a statement with the tights. Not sure what exactly. "Look at my over-cooked chicken legs"? "I want to join the ballet"?

With me being very tentative over any patch of ice, Rich moved ahead.

Passing a couple of overly-quick kids, I saw I was in 4th. I have had many finishes in this position, either overall or AG. Running at a quicker pace than I had run in 2 months, I was upholding a tradition.

I felt quite flat before the turnaround, and decided to run at about half marathon effort rather than the usual breathless 5k effort.

This is all part of my route for every weekend long run, always a pleasure.

It was warm enough to take off my gloves with 1k left, cruising in my rather solitary 4th.

Rounding the final corner, I thought: "I'll throw my gloves in the air at the line." It seemed like an obvious celebration to the end of the season at the time. I came in at 20:58, so mission accomplished. 

The boy in grey, below right, finished in just over 30 minutes. An elite future?

Speaking of elites, Rich got 19:50 and "will never do a 5k again".

A good, though quiet race. The road to "Studio 54" starts here.