Super Bowl 5K Race Report

I walked outside at 9:00 a.m., it was 34 degrees and sunny, and I though, “I’m overdressed and I’ll bake in this heat wave.” This is a good sign. The great thing about the SB 5K is that it is only five minutes from my house. If I wasn’t a completely lazy slob, or if I even remotely cared about the environment, I could have easily have jogged the 1.5 miles to the race. But I drove. Well, I’m from Michigan, and I support the auto industry and my laziness.

Although this race is not huge by any means, it has a large draw for a winter race. This year over 300 people registered, and the Running Gods responded with a sunny day. As I toed the line I realized I had not changed my ipod to my race mix, and therefore would not have the most exciting racing songs at the ready. Oh well, I was loving my new Asics 2130s, but not loving the massive blister that was still causing all kinds of trouble.

The gun sounded, the really fast were off, and then the rest of us were off. The route goes down a street, you have a ‘U’ turn, then down the street again until another ‘U’ turn, and then into a subdivision for a bit until you return back to the original street and a straightaway to the finish line. The street was pretty well cleared, not a lot of slush, so that allowed for the runners to build some speed. Which, of course, was completely killed at each ‘U’ turn. Worse, the subdivision was almost completely covered in built up snow and deep slush. Slowing us down in a big way.

I was feeling alright, but I was never able to get into my high gears. All I could manage was to keep pushing myself. The 11 miles from Saturday morning were not done exacting their toll. My splits were 6:24, 6:59, 6:46 (+ some change). The winner of my AG finished about a minute and a half in front of me. Seriously, he had enough time to finish, walk back past the finish line and up the course and then cheer me on. If he did this, I simultaneously hate and admire him. And I'm glad I managed to sneak in and snag an AG award.

Overall, it was a good race for my first one this year. I really enjoyed it and am excited to see how my training affects my next 5K (the MSU Law 5K) a little less than six weeks away.