1st 5km Race

Today I entered my first 5 kilometer race, the St. Patrick's Day Racewalks in Huntington Beach sponsored by Easy Striders Walking Club. The weather was cool and overcast--perfect for racing. Although the main event was a 20km racewalk, there were only 6 people entered for that race and about 35 for the 5km event.

I didn't make my under 30 minute 5k goal, but I wasn't expecting to do it this soon anyway. The course was an odd length loop so I couldn't really get splits that would mean anything useful so I relied mostly on the heart rate monitor to check my speed. Once I got up to 175 bpm I tried to settle into that pace. However, heart rate tends to creep up over time and as I hit 180 bpm I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to finish so I slowed down. On the last lap Ray Billig, one of the guys in my age group, passed me and I tried to stay within striking distance but on the last few hundred yards, giving it all I had left, wasn't enough to catch him.



There I go by the lap counters, judges and official time keeper.

Here's how I did:

5 kilometers - 32:35
Pace - 6:31 min/km  10:29 min/mi

That was good enough to get 3rd place in my male, 50-59 age group--glad they didn't include the women in my division, there were some very fast 50 something women!

Here are some more photos, click on the thumbnail to see a larger version. Looks like Rosie was focusing on the geese, but my form looks fair--gee do I cross my arms in front of my chest? I'll have to work on that.





In the group picture are the winners of the men's 50-59 age group, right to left.

Name           Club Age Time
Alex Kazaryan  WCLA 53  30:06
Raymond Billig SCW  50  32:16
Daniel Fort    SCW  52  32:35

Finally, here's the metal. Green of course.



By the way, the fourth place finisher was disqualified so even if I would have walked really slow and not gotten disqualified, I still would have won third place. Next year I should do the 20 kilometer race.