Spring Lake 5

When Memorial Day weekend rolls around that means that its the Spring Lake 5 Mile. This Saturday before Memorial Day tradition in Spring Lake (aka The Irish Riviera) is a Jersey Shore tradition that marks the start of the Summer racing season at the shore. This race is old, and it is fast, it is also one big party event. This race usually sells out in two weeks when it opens for entries in February, as whole families, and I mean whole families (or clans if you like) sign up for it. So come race day, it's just you, Mary Grace, Mary Katherine, Mary Alice, Patrick, Joseph and a whole horde of those who roots hail from the Emerald Isle, the ancient Celts would have been proud. On race day, its about 8000 runners, walkers, and partiers lining up. if you want a PR on this fast flat course, be within 10-15 feet of the start otherwise you will be weaving.

Last year me and the wife walked this, my wife was nervous, but she soon relaxed as she saw that most were here for the good times. This year she walked it with her friend, she was looking to "PR" over her time from last year. My goal when I signed up was to go sub 45 minute with a "stretch" goal of sub 40. Going sub 40 was very distant for me, as my conditioning just wasn't there, but sub 45 was. I discarded that plan when the Dr sent me in for surgery. Usually this can just destroy me mentally, but I made the best of it and decided that sub 50 would be just as worthwhile.

On race day we got there in time to pick up our packets, I pinned the numbers and the chips on the lady and walked back to the car, which was about a kilometer away from the start. I get to the car, get my singlet on, my chip on, get the Garmin ready and start to panic. everyone is moving very quickly to the start. I start a slow run, to the start, which by the way great way to warm up. Panic is a great way to loosen muscles. As I approach the start, they are telling everyone to hurry up, I see the "elites" doing there striders. Uh OH, this is not going to be good. I told the girls I would meet up with them for the start. As I weave my way through the crowd on the grass next to the street, the girls find me. They are relaxed, I am not.

After a beautiful rendition of the National Anthem, the gun goes off, we make our way to the start. as we get within 30 ft of the start my wife sends me off. I start the Garmin as I go across the timing mat and hit the wall.

NO, not that "wall", it was a wall of people walking, walking like they had all day! I start the weave, finding my spots like a North Jersey driver on the Garden State Parkway on a Summer weekend. As soon as a opening was created by some one moving, I slipped into it. After all Nature does abhor a vacuum. I also realize, it is hot, I am now drenched in sweat and its just over a 1/3 of a mile. Good Grief! Settle in and start looking for some more space to move into. At mile 1 I see that gun time is 13:xx its a full 3 minutes plus more then my Garmin time, I also notice my Garmin is off by about a 1/10 of a mile. This can't be right??? But oh yes it is, remember my weaving through the crowd, it added almost a tenth of a mile to my run. Not much, but it adds up.

The humidity was pretty annoying, and I was being stupid and not taking water, this could be dumb, but I am passing people and that feels good. At mile 1.5 I see Larry the Lighthouse up a little, I surge up to him, say hello and get the hell out of there. No way some guy wearing a lighthouse costume is going to beat me!! I love ya Larry but no way. I try and settle in and try to keep the pace for a sub 50. I just hope the heat doesn't catch up to me first. By the time I reached mile 4, I knew I was there, but I was now trying to keep my heart rate in check, it was climbing higher then I wanted, so I actually slowed my pace and hoped it wouldn't hurt my time.
Now I don't want to hear anyone bitching to me about this, but yes I wore my iPod, but we were given explicit instructions we had to remove them within 200 yards of finish or face DQ. So I was conscience of distance once I went through mile 4. Once I got to within a quarter mile of finish, I took the headphones off, checked the time ( I was close) and prepared for a kick if I had to. As I got within 200 yards, instinct took over, kick got started and I kicked it in. It felt good, it felt real good to go fast. Per the Garmin, during the kick my heart rate got up to 202; this is not cool. That is very high! got through finish and I watched my HR drop quickly, always a good sign I feel. Grabbed some water, a Gatorade, a couple of bananas, and a bagel and started the walk back to mile 4 to find the girls. I would walk the end of the race with them, which was probably a smart way to cool down the legs. At about 3.75 miles I find them, they are having fun, apparently throwing water at each other at the stops. My wife figures she is close to beating her time from last year so they start to get serious. Once they are within a quarter mile they decide to actually try and jog it in, and they do!

Turns out that based on chip time, she did 1:26:21 (17:17 pace). I had a net time of 49:47 (9:58 pace). I was happy very happy, my legs felt OK, a little sore, but OK.

Here are the splits:

Lap(#) Time(m:s) Distance(mi ) M Spd(mph) Avg HR(bpm) MAX HR (Cal)
1 10:15 1.00 7.6 168 174 168
2 9:48 1.00 7.8 179 184 169
3 9:56 1.00 8.3 184 187 169
4 9:44 1.00 8.5 187 189 168
5 9:31 1.00 7.8 192 198 167
6 0:29 0.7 9.8 199 202 10

As you can see the "extra" lap was because I actually ran extra distance in the first mile.

Plan is to run this next year and make a "honest"attempt at sub 38 minutes. I think it can be done, but I better line myself up front with all the greyhounds!