Harder/Better/Faster/Stronger

Official results reported by RunnersImage:

Today I turned out my fastest time ever in a 5k - 27.43min. I should feel good about this but I don’t because all I can think about is the lady with the baby stroller, the 81 year old man and the high-school girls who all finished way ahead of me.

I knew I had started off too fast, around a 5.33/km pace but I was caught up in the crowd and that pace felt comfortable. I was fine until the 3.50km mark. Then I felt like I had to walk. Some high school boys yelled “KEEP GOING” as they passed me from behind so I started running to pass them but a half minute after I passed them I couldn’t sustain that pace so I had to stop and walk again. Two policemen on bikes slowly rode past us stragglers yelling words of encouragement around the 4km mark “DON’T GIVE UP - YOU’RE ALMOST THERE” so I picked up the pace once more trying to catch up to the 81 year old ahead of me. My lungs felt like they were going to explode as I crossed the finish line a few moments after the sprightly old man. I looked down at my iPod to see how close it matched the race timer. This is results it displayed:

Results from Nike+ iPod:

So it appears my Nike+ iPod is off by .6km. That’s fine though because now I know if I can record a 20min 5k on my Nike+ iPod I should be able to run a 17min 5k in a race.

Gear used: