Race Report: Fifth Third Riverbank Run 25k

 

So I did it. I completed my first 25k. My goal was to finish 2:30:00 and I ended up 2:29:36.  So let’s break down this race:

Start of the race
We’ve sure had some beautiful days the last week.  Unfortunately, race day was crap.  It was cold.  Very cold.  Making things worse was standing in the start line for 15 minutes freezing my tail off.  However, once the race was started, all of that was forgotten.

 

First 8-Miles
When the race started, I was right behind the 9:00 min pace setters.  However, within the first mile, the 9:00 min group started to pull away.  However, according to my Garmin, my pace was 8:30ish.  By mile 4, the 9:30 pace setters caught me, yet my Garmin was saying 8:45.  Thus, my Garmin footpod was off by :30 to :45.  I decided to hang with the 9:30 for the majority of the race.  It was a comfortable pace for me. My average pace for the first 8 miles was 9:26, with a max pace of 8:12.  Below is a graph of the first 8-miles.  As you can see, the route was relatively flat.



 

Next 5-Miles
With the first 8-miles complete, we entered the hardest part of the race.  The graph below represents the final half of the race.  As you can see, things got a little hilly. My average pace dropped to 9:36 with a max pace of 8:14.



Last 2-Miles

During most of the race, I felt fine.  No knee issues or other unusual pain.  However, at mile 13, my wheels fell off. My feet were hurting extremely bad, which caused my running form to collapse.  It hurt to take a step.  My average pace jumped to 9:57.  Even with all the cheering from the finish line crowd, I had nothing left to give.  Even if I could muster the energy, my feet wouldn’t have responded.  I did seek out some advice on why this happened, and the primary culprit is just the lack of running miles.  Most would blame the shoes, but with no real issues for 13 miles, then that means it’s not the shoes.

Approaching the finish line, I noticed the clock saying 2:28.  So I really really really tried to muster up energy, but the clock ticked past my goal of 2:30. I was in so much pain, I conceded my goal.  However, what I wasn’t thinking about was my chip time.  When I saw the official results, I hit my goal with 2:29:36.

Even though I’ve been limping for two days, this race was lots of fun and I’m looking forward to doing it again.