Happy New Year!

As I do most years, I got myself together in time on New Year's Day to get over to Rossyln and run in the DC Road Runners Predictions and Resolutions 5K. My best time in this race was 30:51 back in 2005. I couldn't break 34 minutes in any 5K last year so I knew that time wasn't in any danger.

Quite a few runners made it out for the race and the race was even covered by a Washington Post reporter and photographer. The start was crowded as it always is on a Mt. Vernon Trail race but it quickly thinned out as we ran by Roosevelt Island. I was running at just over a 10 minute pace for the first mile but had to stop to walk at about 1.1 miles. According to my Garmin, my heart rate was at 142 at this point. I really should be able to run at that rate but it seems like that is when I start to feel pretty bad and I always try to err on the side of discretion.
My heart rate got above 142 8 times during the race and I took walk breaks every time. My highest heart rate was 149 just before the finish.

I finished the race is 36:45, 10 seconds slower than the day before on a flat course. This course has a very challenging hill at the end of the race (a bridge over the GW parkway) so relative to that race I'm somewhat satisfied. But I obviously have a LONG way to go to catch up with my times from just a few years ago. My hope is with consistent training, which is now possible being between work assignments, I'll be able to not only get stronger but also lose the 8 pounds or so that keep me from being in the proper BMI level. I do all of that I think I should certainly expect myself to be able to sustain a 10 minute per mile pace for up to a 10K distance. Let's see how the year goes.