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Cincinnati has 3 big races - the Flying Pig Marathon (and other events), the Thanksgiving Day 10k (I think the 3rd or 4th oldest continuously held race in the US), and the Heart Mini-Marathon, a 15k & 5k benefitting the Heart Association. Last year they created a new division called Two Beats where you could run the 5k at 9am and the 15k at 10, combine the times and that was a separate division. Since it didn't cost anything extra vs. the 15k, I figured why not?<br><br>
The course is pretty tough - rolling hills throughout and each year I've run the 15k I wonder why I don't pick another race to do this weekend! The 5k is no cakewalk either - a long hill about 0.3 miles into it, then a long steep downhill and a slight climb to the turnaround point, and then reverse it - so a long steep climb to a downhill and flat finish. The 15k starts and finishes the same with a bunch of rollers and a mean, nasty turn onto Torrence Ave - 0.2 miles up a steep hill, and 0.2 miles downhill on rubbery legs with another hill right afterwards.<br><br>
My 5k PR is one of my weaker times - 17:22 - so I was focusing on beating that and then running whatever I could in the 15k. If things went well, I thought I could run low 17's and at least come within a minute of my 15k time from last year (55:50).<br><br><b>5k</b> was uneventful. As I warmed up, I noticed it was hillier than I thought and the wind was pretty brisk. I started to think low 17 would be pretty tough but I'd have a go at it. I was in a pack of 6 with one guy well in front of us right away. We stayed together pretty much through the first half mile which was 5:25 for me and I passed 2 of the guys. So now I'm in 5th place with the lone wolf leader and 3 guys working together, then me, then a string of people behind me. It stayed that way through the whole race - I may have been able to run a little harder with someone pushing me, but it wasn't to be. Mile 2 was a painful 5:43, and mile 3 was 5:39. Add on 40 seconds to the finish and my time was 17:27. Not a PR but not bad. I noticed the guys in front of me had their chips removed which was great news - none of them were doing the Two Beats!<br><br>
I had 40 minutes till the 15k so I jogged to the parking garage and put the 5k medal in my friend's car. My legs were singing a little but not too bad - I knew I wouldn't be taking it out hard in the 15k though!<br><br>
The 15k was a different story - I was in a pack of guys from the beginning, one of whom I knew (David). We cruised along at what felt like a doable pace for ~1 hour. First two miles were 6.02 & 6.09 so I'm thinking "OK, the goal of 6:00 throughout probably won't happen." Then mile 3 was 5.39 which we all thought was wrong, but maybe the 1st or 2nd mile was long. Last night my goal was 18:30 for each of the 3 5k segments and the first one was 18:39 - close but slow. The next 3 miles we started working harder - it included the turnaround which really broke the group up from a nice pack of 8-10 guys to a string. The splits for the next 3 were 6.11, 5.56, and 6.03 which included the brutal hill up Torrence. That part just flat out sucks - you know it's coming, you know it's going to hurt, so you try to make time on the preceding downhill. When you hit the crest there's not much time to recover before the next hill. The 2nd 5k split was right on 18:30 so I picked it up a little...good news since I could break 56 minutes with a strong final 5k, bad news because if it had been out of reach I could have slowed down and relaxed!<br><br>
David and I were now working hard, pushing each other. Mile 7 was 6.07 up a hill, and the mostly downhill mile 8 was 5.40. David pulled out a little in front of me - I just didn't have the leg turnover to keep up with him, but I caught back up to him and passed him on a long climb in mile 9 (5.58 ) I saw my wife and daughters on the home stretch which was a nice push, and there was one more guy reachable in front of me that I wanted to pass - no young kid wearing a cotton shirt was going to be in front of me (petty I know, but you draw motivation where you can!) 1.54 for the last .3 miles, final time was 55:40 - a 10 second PR! I found out later I came in 22nd overall - not too bad, given it was race #2 of the day!<br><br>
I found out later I won my age group in the 15k, got 2nd in my age group in the 5k, and I won the Two Beats division by 3 minutes! Pretty cool - even though it's a totally made up thing!<br><br>
Most of my friends had pretty good days as well - the weather was pretty good, in the 40's/50's, a little windy but not so bad. I'm pretty beat up now - hopefully I'll feel decent enough to flush my legs with a short run tomorrow, and my Boston taper starts after a few more hard workouts. To PR on a tough course after running my 2nd best 5k ever is a very good sign that my training has gone well. I was shocked at how much more comfortable 6:00 pace felt versus 5:38's in the 5k...much more sustainable. 6:15-6:20 is the goal for Boston, and I should be better rested so all signs are pointing to a decent day (weather allowing!)<br><br>
Thanks for reading this long report!
The course is pretty tough - rolling hills throughout and each year I've run the 15k I wonder why I don't pick another race to do this weekend! The 5k is no cakewalk either - a long hill about 0.3 miles into it, then a long steep downhill and a slight climb to the turnaround point, and then reverse it - so a long steep climb to a downhill and flat finish. The 15k starts and finishes the same with a bunch of rollers and a mean, nasty turn onto Torrence Ave - 0.2 miles up a steep hill, and 0.2 miles downhill on rubbery legs with another hill right afterwards.<br><br>
My 5k PR is one of my weaker times - 17:22 - so I was focusing on beating that and then running whatever I could in the 15k. If things went well, I thought I could run low 17's and at least come within a minute of my 15k time from last year (55:50).<br><br><b>5k</b> was uneventful. As I warmed up, I noticed it was hillier than I thought and the wind was pretty brisk. I started to think low 17 would be pretty tough but I'd have a go at it. I was in a pack of 6 with one guy well in front of us right away. We stayed together pretty much through the first half mile which was 5:25 for me and I passed 2 of the guys. So now I'm in 5th place with the lone wolf leader and 3 guys working together, then me, then a string of people behind me. It stayed that way through the whole race - I may have been able to run a little harder with someone pushing me, but it wasn't to be. Mile 2 was a painful 5:43, and mile 3 was 5:39. Add on 40 seconds to the finish and my time was 17:27. Not a PR but not bad. I noticed the guys in front of me had their chips removed which was great news - none of them were doing the Two Beats!<br><br>
I had 40 minutes till the 15k so I jogged to the parking garage and put the 5k medal in my friend's car. My legs were singing a little but not too bad - I knew I wouldn't be taking it out hard in the 15k though!<br><br>
The 15k was a different story - I was in a pack of guys from the beginning, one of whom I knew (David). We cruised along at what felt like a doable pace for ~1 hour. First two miles were 6.02 & 6.09 so I'm thinking "OK, the goal of 6:00 throughout probably won't happen." Then mile 3 was 5.39 which we all thought was wrong, but maybe the 1st or 2nd mile was long. Last night my goal was 18:30 for each of the 3 5k segments and the first one was 18:39 - close but slow. The next 3 miles we started working harder - it included the turnaround which really broke the group up from a nice pack of 8-10 guys to a string. The splits for the next 3 were 6.11, 5.56, and 6.03 which included the brutal hill up Torrence. That part just flat out sucks - you know it's coming, you know it's going to hurt, so you try to make time on the preceding downhill. When you hit the crest there's not much time to recover before the next hill. The 2nd 5k split was right on 18:30 so I picked it up a little...good news since I could break 56 minutes with a strong final 5k, bad news because if it had been out of reach I could have slowed down and relaxed!<br><br>
David and I were now working hard, pushing each other. Mile 7 was 6.07 up a hill, and the mostly downhill mile 8 was 5.40. David pulled out a little in front of me - I just didn't have the leg turnover to keep up with him, but I caught back up to him and passed him on a long climb in mile 9 (5.58 ) I saw my wife and daughters on the home stretch which was a nice push, and there was one more guy reachable in front of me that I wanted to pass - no young kid wearing a cotton shirt was going to be in front of me (petty I know, but you draw motivation where you can!) 1.54 for the last .3 miles, final time was 55:40 - a 10 second PR! I found out later I came in 22nd overall - not too bad, given it was race #2 of the day!<br><br>
I found out later I won my age group in the 15k, got 2nd in my age group in the 5k, and I won the Two Beats division by 3 minutes! Pretty cool - even though it's a totally made up thing!<br><br>
Most of my friends had pretty good days as well - the weather was pretty good, in the 40's/50's, a little windy but not so bad. I'm pretty beat up now - hopefully I'll feel decent enough to flush my legs with a short run tomorrow, and my Boston taper starts after a few more hard workouts. To PR on a tough course after running my 2nd best 5k ever is a very good sign that my training has gone well. I was shocked at how much more comfortable 6:00 pace felt versus 5:38's in the 5k...much more sustainable. 6:15-6:20 is the goal for Boston, and I should be better rested so all signs are pointing to a decent day (weather allowing!)<br><br>
Thanks for reading this long report!
