On Saturday May 14, 2011 my wife and I participated in the Twin Cities Twosome 10k relay race in Urbana. We decided to do this event rather than another 5k race in another town because we could run the event as a team. There are not too many events around like this where we can race together in this way.
The event was the 20th annual and benefited some great local charities (Center for Women in Transition, The Crisis Nursery, and the T.I.M.E.S. Center). This race has some unique categories such as; husband-wife, parent-child, corporate, combined ages, and high school. There was a 5k open category as well. This was different from the other events I have ran in where I am trying to place in my age group.
Overall I thought this was a great event. My wife and I finished 4th is the Husband-Wife category.
For the middle of May the weather sure felt like early March. Rain showers, overnight and in the morning, dropped the temperatures and increased the wind. The temperature was about 50 degrees but with the wind it felt like about 40 degrees.
My wife elected to do the first leg of the relay. She started with the main large group. As that group started it was just a waiting game for me until it was my turn to run the last leg of the relay. So I did a light jog and did some stretching. In order to complete a 5k in Crystal Lake Park you have to run 2 laps. I knew that my wife would be finishing her first lap around 13 minutes so I got back to the start line to cheer her on.
As she past by I knew she was running at a good pace and looking good. Now, there I stand around for another 14 minutes waiting for her to get back and do the official relay switch. As I see her come up and over the hill I stood out on the exchange zone awaiting her arrival.
Once we did the exchange I once again had a lot of adrenaline and ran the first quarter mile or so at a 5:40/mi pace. Of course it helped that first part was down hill. Most of the run was inside the park which cut down the wind factor. After about a half mile I settled in to a pace I felt comfortable with and worked on maintaining that pace.
I finished the first lap (2.5k) under 10 minutes. I knew then I had a chance, although it would be close, to finish in 20 minutes or better for my 5k part of the relay. When my legs were screaming to slow down I had to remind myself by saying 20 minutes over and over.
As I rounded the last curve I could see the finish line and gave it all I had. My GPS watch said 20:01. We'll say it was 20:00 minutes as I didn't stop my watch right away =)
My laps times were as follows:
Mile Pace/mi
1 06:19
2 06:30
3 06:33
3.11 05:50
I ran the my last 5k in 19:52 so I guess I am consistent.
We had fun and we both had great run times. This was a fun event hopefully do it again next year. Hopefully the weather will be a little nicer.
Now onto my first triathlon of the season in a little over a week. This racing stuff is addicting.
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