Running a 5-Mile Race

Whether you are new to running, or you've been racing for years, the 5-mile distance poses an interesting challenge. It's long enough that it requires endurance for beginning runners. For more experienced and long-distance runners, the race challenges them to run fast, but also pace themselves over the five miles. The 5K (3.1 mile) distance is typically considered a sprint race for distance runners. The 5-mile race, however, is just a bit too long to be sprinted.

I recently ran the Van Metre 5 Mile run in Ashburn, VA. The average temperature was about 39 degrees, partly sunny. On a personal level, the 5-mile distance is significant to me because I always used to run 5 miles exactly whenever I worked out, before I started racing. To follow is a mile-by-mile report of my race.

Before the Race
You might have thought that this race was some life-altering event based on my anxiety dreams the night before. I dreamt that I was late to the race, that I couldn't find the race, that I got into a car accident on the way to the race, that I forgot about the race. Any anxiety dream you can think of, I had it. I tossed and turned all night and ended up with very little sleep.

I went to the Starbucks near my house for my usual pre-race coffee (just half a cup) and bagel. I was upset to learn that the bagel shop near the Starbucks had gone out of business, so I had to settle for a reduced-fat piece of coffee cake from Starbucks. I drove 25 miles out to Ashburn where I parked my car, got my bib number and warmed up. There were about 600 people running this race. My goal for the race was under 40:00, (under 8:00/mile).

Mile 1: 8:00 (8:00 pace)
I had no idea what the elevation for this course would be like. Mile one featured a large hill, and I felt like I was going maybe 8:20-8:25, so I was happy when I passed mile marker 1 at exactly 8:00, according to my watch. This was the coldest race I've ever run, probably just a few degrees colder than last year's Turkey Trot 5K. It hurt to breathe the cold air. I could see my breath. I kept spitting ever few minutes. I don't know why I spit in races when it's colder.