On Saturday I ran in the Bear Creek Fun Run. It was a 5k and a good opportunity to do a solid speed workout.
It’s been 5 weeks since Boston, and I was seriously considering doing the Famous Potato Marathon again. However, I wasn’t sure I was back into Boston shape and I have a Ragnar coming up. I’d like to run fast at Ragnar (so I don’t keep my team waiting) and have a fun experience there. I also have some other long term goals I’m working towards. Marathons are fun, but after running them I think they set me back. After the taper, the race, and the recovery it takes some time to get back to the level of fitness I was prior to the marathon. I figured I can wait until the fall to do my next marathon.
Bear Creek is a neighborhood about 1 mile from my house. In the morning I put baby Luna in the jogging stroller and jogged to Bear Creek Park with my 8 and 10-year-old daughters, Cosie and Paisley, accompanying me on their bikes.
The Bear Creek Fun Run is organized by the LDS ward nearby, which I attend. There were several friends there including some youth that I see every few days at church and weekly youth activities.
We all signed up (for free) and got our bibs on. They started with a 1 mile (?) kids race. Cosie ran this with a friend and had a good time.
Once the kids finished up, the 5k’ers lined up to run. There were a few youth that I’m pretty sure can beat me on a good day, so I was curious to see how this turned out.
We started out at a decent pace, but after a quarter mile I noticed everyone slowing down a bit. I figured the boys would push the pace longer, but I was happy to note the slowdown. I decided to go ahead and take the lead.
The race wound around the neighborhood and was very low key. We mostly stuck to the sidewalks. This was nice as it was a more relaxed environment and this race didn’t cause me any stress beforehand like a bigger race would.
As the race moved on I glanced back a few times and saw Tanner behind me, but my lead was growing. I tried to push and I feel like I gave a solid effort, but had he been with me I think I could have given a little more.
My pace gradually slowed from a 5:39 first mile to a 5:45 second mile, but the last stretch around the park gave me an opportunity to pick it back up to 5:42.
I came across first and saw that my distance was only 3.05 miles, so I ripped off my bib tag, stopped for a moment to give it to the volunteers, and finished out the full 3.1 miles. My time was about 17:45.
Tanner came across about a minute later followed by a few other boys. Admittedly I was happy to beat them, but I’m sure once they start training for cross country they’ll be faster than me. (This was good timing since it was before their heavy summer training starts but after my heavy spring training.)
I doubled back to find my daughter, Paisley, but unfortunately I somehow missed her. I worried a bit as I ran backwards on the course and didn’t see her, but I found out when I got back that she finished in about 25 minutes, which was fantastic.
It was an enjoyable little run and after jogging home I had a productive and enjoyable Saturday!