Race date: 4.2.2012
Official Finishing Time: 18:47,14 chip time
Official Position: 13/670 (finishers), which puts me in the fastest 1.9%
Race number: 218

I was hoping to finally smash my 5k PB of 18:46 from 2010 officially, but I didn’t realize just how tough this course was. Garmin reports total height gain at 72m, but it sure felt like more than that. Rather nasty design as well, since the toughest and longest hill is on the final km. Oh well, I still got a decent run, and I probably could’ve pushed enough to record a new PB had I been motivated to do so. The thing is, I should really be in sub 18min shape — and I believe I would be on a flat course. After all, I recorded an 18:35 5k on the track in training just last week. Well, 5k is not a priority for me, but it would be nice to find a fast one for a change!

It was fairly chilly morning, so I ran in long sleeves all the way, even wore my gloves. I think I was the only one not running in shorts in the lead group, but I was happy enough with my decision, as I didn’t get hot at all. The course went around the Chapel Hill campus, mostly on familiar roads. Good turnout too, but I feel that not too many of the runners were running this race very seriously — probably because they were aware of the lack of PB potential! In any case, I finished relatively high in the field, being 13th out of 670 finishers, and it is perhaps worth mentioning that all but one out of those faster than me were under 25. Just six runners managed to get below 18min.

Anyway, it was nice to get a race in, and even nicer to have a post-race brunch at the Weaver Street Market!

My target pace was 3:35min/km, which I only hit on the first km, going mostly downhill. My splits weren’t too bad though considering the hills, and I managed a nice finishing sprint as well, overtaking one guy and finishing just ahead of the first lady.

Some more race data below:

Splits:
1k 3:28,9
2k 3:42,6
3k 3:50,6
4k 3:45,7
5k 3:49,8
Total: 5,06k in 18:47,7

Official results here (PDF).
Garmin data here.