2009 Cherry Creek Sneak

On Sunday April 26th I ran the Cherry Creek Sneak 5 mile race w/ Doug and Arwen. It was the first time I had ever run the race - the weather was beautiful, it was fun to do a big race, the distance was one I had never raced before (guaranteed PR!) and it was a good early season test.

My thought going into this was that sub 44:00 (8:45 /mile) was doable, and I'd be very satisfied with that. sub 46:00 (9:10 / mile) would be OK, and I'd be dissappointed with anything over that. We got to the race about an hour early, walked around for a bit, ran into Jonny (wearing a kilt of course) who was working the clif bar booth - and the crowd in general. Doug and I did a 1/2 mile warmup, and then positioned ourselves in the 8:00 - 9:00 minute pace area. Arwen started with us but this was the farthest he had ever run, so he was going to go out easy.

It was pretty crowded for about the first 200 - 300 yards, but then loosened up pretty well. We cruised along at a very manageable pace the first mile, and I was really, really hoping to do slightly under 9:00 for the first mile. We hit it in 9:11 - bummer...In retrospect we were probably running about 8:45 - 8:50 pace, but because of the start it our time was a little slower. I got a little anxious and started to pick up the pace, and even with a slow down at the aid station just before mile 2 we did the 2nd mile in 8:23 - so we were probably running at about 8:10 pace. This turned out to be a mistake, and mile 3 (8:54) and mile 4 (9:00 w/ 30 second walk break at the aid station) were tough. Sub 44:00 would be really tough, as I'd have to do a sub 8:30 final mile. But I felt better after the walk break, and was feeling pretty bad but still moving along OK. As I looked around I noticed two things - people weren't passing me like at the Denver Half Marathon, and most of the people running around me looked like they were in decent shape. In previous races I've been passed by little kids, old men who looked like they were limping, people who looked like they could stand to drop 30 pounds - but this time I felt pretty good at the end.

The final mile winds through Cherry Creek North - going from 1st ave to 3rd, then does a funky U-turn (unexpected) back on 2nd ave before finishing back on 1st. I crossed the line in 44:14...just missing sub-44:00 but still pretty happy with how it ended up.

I paid the price on the 2nd mile. I think I would have been better off maintaining a nice 8:45 pace for miles 2 and 3, then trying to move it up to 8:35 or 8:30 for the last 2 miles.

After the race we waited for Arwen and he showed up pretty quickly. He was totally psyched - his comment was "Man - I had never run more than 3 miles before, but after 3 miles I was feeling great! I felt like I could run forever!" It was very cool to see such enthusiasm.

Splits:
mile 1: 9:11
mile 2: 8:23
mile 3: 8:54
mile 4: 9:00
mile 5: 8:46

This place me 128/232 in my age group - which means I finished slower than 55% of the guys in my age group. In the Denver Half Marathon I finished slower than 65% - so that's a good sign.

Next race: Rocky Mountain Half Marathon (for those keeping track it's not run w/ the all women's 8K this year)