Strides Of March 5K race report

This is my second time running the Strides of March 5K and it the first 5k of 2011. With all the speed training and tempo/hill workouts I have been doing I was looking forward to running a 5k to see what kind of improvement I made. I think PR-ing a 5K is tough business! Its only three miles, to shave 1 minute off your time you would have to drop your pace 20 seconds a mile. Easier said then done to me...



Event Description: The 14th Annual Strides of March 5K Race and Walk, part of the month-long celebration of mental retardation and developmental disabilities awareness month, with all the proceeds going to benefit local children and adults with mental retardation and developmental disabilities

Course Description: The 3.1 mile race course winds along beautiful Sperry Road through The Holden Arboretum in Kirtland, Ohio. The out and back course is fully paved and is slightly hilly.


I got to meet up with Mike, his wife Kelly, there children only Jeremy was running this time and Kirsten from Days go by. Mike has been on the injured list for a couple of weeks so he didn't get to run. I felt kind of sad about that, I hate being on the side lines and you can tell he wanted to run.

We all lined up towards the front and after a few minutes the race got on its way. I really didn't have a plan for the race just to run a little harder and try to keep up the pace until I couldn't push any more. The first Mile I ran in 7:37 which is the fastest full mile I have ran to date! Plus the first mile was almost all up hill. The second mile I ran in 8:45, from mile 1 to 1.5 the hill got a little steeper but nothing crazy. The turn around point was at 1.5 and we got to start running down hill! I could tell that running that first mile that fast started to catch up with me a bit. I felt like dropping the pace more, I kept telling myself to man up and push harder its only one more mile. I ran mile 3 in 8:21, I think the down hill was helping me. As soon as the finish line was in site I stated to drop the hammer and give it all I could to finish strong. The last .1 I ran at a 6:43 pace! Thats so crazy!

Well I crossed the line in 25:33 a new 5K PR and a new course PR last year I ran it in 27:01, 01:28 faster.