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| The start / finish line |
Placement: 1st in the 50 - 54, 11th overall
Results: Here
Race Website: Here
Weather: 45 - 10 mph breeze from the south
Course Map / Garmin Dump: Here
Previous Years: First year for me
| Mile | Time | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7:47 | A bit of headwind. Did quite reach top gear right away. |
| 2 | 7:39 | Pushing hard here. Fairly flat. Surprised this mile went as well as it did |
| 3 | 7:56 | Was hurting. Desperate at times to know what the distance on the course was. |
| 3.19 | 1:19 | Once I saw the finish line, I redlined it. |
| Total Miles: 3.19- 24.43 | ||
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| Runner orientatino |
Introduction
On a whim, I decided to jump into the Run Farmington 5K. I believe this race happened last year as well but I never wound up doing it (injured).
The race sports two distances: a 5K and a half marathon. I was very tempted to sign up for the half marathon. Farmington is a really nice city to urn in and it likely would've been very scenic.
However, I was still feeling fairly fatigued from the Salt Lake half and last week's Blossom Run 10K. Initially, I planned to sit this week out but I couldn't hold back from at least doing a 5K.
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| The Park's entrance |
The Race
The race is held at Farmington City Park. You are near the Legacy bike trail and the Rio Grande Bike Trails, so plenty of space to have a race.
I got there fairly early and watched the kid's 1 mile race, and then the half marathon start. The 5K was supposed to start at 8 AM, but it was probably closer to 8:10 by the time we got rolling.
I had done about a mile of warm-ups and did plenty of drills to get primed for the race. There were adequate bathrooms as well.
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| Rio Grande Trail |
The weather was nice although there was a bit of a breeze coming from the south. I hadn't quite figured out how the race started before it began, so I was a bit cautious on how to approach it. I got the impression though that it was fairly flat.
The race was small and I had lined up close to the front. I was wearing shorts, my trusty and easily identifiable pink t-shirt, and the Saucony Pro 2s.
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| Still a bit of farm country in Farmington |
The first mile is always the easiest and hardest of the race. The pace feels easy and my breathing is in control but nailing that perfect pace and what you have for the day is hit and miss.
The race started off in the park, wandered around the parking lot before dumping you off on a street. Eventually you make your way to Main Street before taking a sidewalk down to the Legacy Bike Trail. There was a bit of a grinder of a hill to start. I glanced down at my watch to monitor my pace: I didn't want to go out too hard and at the same time didn't want to relax too much.
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| Such a beautiful day. |
I have run various races on parts of this course, so it was all very familiar to me. I slowly picked up my pace as I worked with another runner who I knew ran about the same 5K as I do.
Mile came up in a rather pedestrian 7:47 split. I was still comfortable and my breathing was okay. However, I know that the weight of the 5K race starts to hit me about half way through.
I picked up the pace and overtook the runner I was chasing. I also gained on another young man. I hadn't seen anyone else in my age group and the lead pack had clearly disappeared at this point. There were still some targets ahead to work with.
The course was well marshaled and marked by volunteers. I hadn't really studied the map on their site (it was kind of confusing) and I had heard that this was a looped course. I kept hoping that eventually we'd make the turn to the west to indicate we were in the homestretch.
A little more than half way, we made the turn west. This was probably the least favorite part of the course. Leaving the bike trail, we were running on the side of a street. It wasn't heavily trafficked and it was only about half a mile.
I hit mile 2 in 7:39. Perhaps this was going to be a good race.
The turn to head north hit me by surprise. I am glad they had a volunteer there and I probably remember seeing another runner make the turn. We were now on the Rio Grand bike trail. I remember running a few races on this portion of the bike trail as well.
Despite the tailwind now, I was running on fumes. My stride turnover was reduced but my length of my stride was increased. I kept looking at my watch trying to gauge how much longer it was to the finish line and how much longer I had to run.
I wound up passing another pair of runners and was ceremoniously passed by a young man under 10 years old. Crazy.
Finally, I saw a line of trees which shrouded the final push to the finish line. My watch binged 3 miles and I know for certain that the course was going to be long. In fact, I didn't hit the 3.10 mark until the 13 mile mark for the half marathon. In short, the course was 3.20 miles. I did make a mental note that I was around 23:55 - 24:05 for an official 5K.
Conclusion
So, I was 11th overall and 1st in my age group. But this was a fairly lightly attended race. My splits were fairly consistent throughout the race and I loved the fact that I still had a lot left to run what was effectively a 7:19 pace for the final .2 miles.
Overall though, my time was fairly "okay". Definitely not my best 5K and a bit of a let down.
I enjoyed the race. The medal was a homemade wooden thing. Definitely unique and it had an inspirational message on it. Definitely a nice touch. There were no age group awards sadly. I honestly didn't expect any, particularly for the 5K since it was such a small event.
Post race refreshments were hydration (never had any) bananas and bread with honey and butter. I wound up doing a cooldown of about a mile in order to get photos of the course. It was a beautiful day and part of me really regretted not running the half.
Upcoming Races
05/29: 2023 Run For Remembrance 10K - American Fork, UT (Confirmed)
06/03: 2023 Utah Valley 10K - Provo, UT (Confirmed)
06/24: 2023 Taylorsville Dayzz 5K - Taylorsville, UT (Confirmed)
07/22: 2023 Steele Days 10K - American Fork, UT (Confirmed)
08/19: 2023 Rock 'N Roll Salt Lake City Half Marathon - Salt Lake City, UT (Confirmed)
09/23: 2023 Witch Run 10K - West Jordan, UT (Confirmed)
10/21: 2023 Haunted Half 5K - Salt Lake City, UT (Confirmed)
10/28: 2023 Haunted Half 5K - Provo, UT (Confirmed)
02/25: 2024 Las Vegas Half Marathon - Las Vegas, NV (Confirmed)
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