The Park Point 5 Miler

This past Friday I ran in the Park Point 5 miler. It is a great race on Park Point in Duluth, MN sponsored by Grandma’s. It had somewhere around 400 people racing in the 5 mile run, 2 mile walk, and numerous youth races. The evening start time and proximity to the lake provided some relief to the normal July heat and allowed for some fast times.
After a 20-minute 3 mile-ish warm up run and 3x400 race pace stride outs I lined up on the starting line with the other 5-mile racers. As the horn sounded we took off down the road toward the lift bridge. I started in third, and went through the first mile 5:10. Feeling strong I maintained the pace, but was passed by a small chase pack of 3 runners shortly after the 1 mile mark. After hitting the turn around I hit the 3-mile checkpoint in 16:27. Still feeling good, I maintained my pace as best as I could and cruised to a 27:26 (PR) - good for 7th place overall and second in my age group. The course and conditions could not have been better for a race.
All told, I am happy with the Park Point 5 miler results. I am currently training for cross country in the fall, and have not done more than 4 speed or tempo workouts yet, but my result is a good sign for things to come in cross country season.