2013 South Jordan Country Fest 5K

Last Saturday (6/15/2013) I decided to run a 5K -- the South Jordan Country Fest 5K, located in South Jordan, Utah.  Mind you, I haven't run a 5K since February and I had just run a full marathon the week before.  You may even ask "What the heck were you thinking?"

Well, here is what I was thinking.... I wanted to get in a "quality" workout and the race was pretty affordable (about $25).  I had also run the race last year and won my age group with a mediocre performance.  I figured that even with another average performance I could do a repeat, get in a good workout and have a little bit of entertainment.

I felt pretty good Saturday morning and the temperature was ideal.  Instead of a blistering hot day it was actually in the low 50's.  The race was supposed to start at 7:00AM but was delayed for a few minutes.

I didn't expect to do awesome in this race and I just hoped to be able to run low 7 minute miles.  I was able to do the first mile in about 7:15 which felt challenging yet doable.  I didn't feel like I was pushing the envelope, but that the pace was something I could hold.  The second one I hit at about 7:30 or 7:45 if I remember correctly.  There were some hills here and some of the miles from last week's marathon started to affect my turnover.  I think I gutted the last mile out in about 8:00 minutes.

The course was long -- my Garmin came up with 3.27 miles.  I finished in 24:25, my slowest 5K to date (and equivalent to an easy 5K training pace a few years ago).  I was okay with that in some regards because I wasn't particularly concerned with my time.  You can see the results here.  Also, a change from last year is that I was lumped into the over 40 group so I was competing against everyone in the over 40 age group (where as anyone younger than 40 had their own groups).  So no age group award this year.

Once I finished the race I was able to recover quickly and took off for a 4 mile easy run down the bike trail.  I normally don't run on this section of the bike trail (except after work a few times) and I was pleased to see quite a few runners getting in their miles.

Overall, I am disappointed with my time.  I figured more of a mid 22 minute performance.  I guess given that the course was as long as it was, I am not surprised.  Either way, I did enjoy my run -- although I was sad to note that I didn't know anyone there.  Usually at races (particularly in Illinois) I would know a ton of people -- here I didn't know a soul.  Hopefully that will change as I frequent more and more local races.