The 8th time did the trick. On  the third anniversary of my first real race ever, I finally broke the sub-20 minute barrier for the 5k distance. I’m so jazzed that I finally did it.

I love this race. Not only was it my first race ever three years ago, but the course is just so fast and flat. I finished the race in 19:56, 2nd in my age group, and 35th overall.

For the last several months the running training has been somewhat varied. I’ve been training hard for the marathon distance with the goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon 2012. Part of my training involved some speed work intervals at the track. I’m pleased with how much my fitness level, strength, and cardiovascular base have improved. My friend from Breakaway Training, Eric, and I have done extra speed workouts on our own. Lately, everything seemed to be coming together. Everyone noticed that I have been much faster at the track workouts.

My strategy for the race was to run the first two miles at 6:15/mile and 6:26 for the last 1.1 miles. It almost didn’t turn out that way today. I ran the first mile at 6:11. Eric caught up with me during the first mile, which made me feel much better. Originally, he was going to hang back and go a little slower. But I feel like I always perform better if I run with him or chase him. The lame thing about mile one was some guy running with a dog who passed us.

We ran mile two at about 6:17. It was nice to pass up the guy with the stupid dog. Eric moved ahead towards the end of mile two, while I could feel myself getting tired in the lungs and slowing down. With about 16-17 minutes elapsed, I was so relieved to make the final turn with about half a mile to go. Eric was around 15-20 seconds ahead of me. He’d be crossing the line soon at 19:38.

At this point, my lungs were burning pretty bad. I had an a-ha/deja vu moment. For two or three previous 5k races, I simply folded and threw in the towel. I had come very close to breaking this 20-minute barrier a couple of times, but when the pain became unbearable, I simply gave up. This time I decided it would be different.

For a few seconds I debated with myself about slowing down and giving up the sub-20 goal. With the finish line in sight, I knew I needed to make my last-minute sprint or I would not meet the goal. In spite of my lungs being on fire, I sprinted for the line relegating my thoughts about pain to the fact that the pain would just be temporary. In corner of my eye as I crossed the line, I saw the time clock flash 19:57. I made it!

First wall down for 2010, two more to go.

I had signed up for this turkey trot event last Thanksgiving, but I skipped it due to rain. I know. Wimpy. But that was a year ago.

This year I followed through on the race, doing the 5K event. I’ve been chasing after breaking the sub-20 minute barrier for the 5K distance. To that end, I need to maintain a pace of 6:24 or better on average. On this Thanksgiving morning it was not to be. My official time was 20:44. However, it was good enough for 1st place in my AG (out of 44) and 18th overall (out of 1440). So for those results, I am extremely pleased!

My strategy for this race was to try to do a negative split as advised by my fellow Breakaway team member, Dave P. For the first mile, I planned to run 6:30, followed by 6:25 for the second mile, and 6:15 for the last mile.

After waiting around for almost two hours for the race to start, I was feeling pretty antsy. So when the gun finally went off, I felt relieved and energized. As the lead group of runners ran out ahead, I purposely held back and let several people pass me. It was difficult at first to see so many people driving forward past me. But after the first mile or mile and one-half, I had passed most of the people easily by sticking to my plan.

I executed the plan flawlessly for two miles. By mile 3 though I was feeling a little tired. I managed to speed up for a few seconds here and there with short bursts of speed, but my pace during that last mile would not be fast enough to guarantee me a sub-20 finish. As I approached the last half-mile, I thought about sprinting as hard as I could. But I hesitated, thinking that I would not be able to sustain the speed and slow down too much by the time I reached the finish line.

At the end, I was off by only 45 seconds, which is basically about 15 seconds/mile off pace. So close. My regret for this race was that I did not sprint all out for that last half-mile. And due to that small miscalculation, I missed my goal time.

After resting for a bit and snacking on some post-race grub (bagels, water, electrolyte drinks, and even some pizza!), I checked out the results board and learned that I had won my division. For the awards we were given these nice blue aluminum water bottles. You know already… I would prefer to have a cheap plastic medal for a prize. But I’m happy my name is in the record books as the first place finisher in my age group.

At first I was just going to let this sub-20 thing go for this year, and just try again in 2010. But my coach says I should go for it. So I’ve signed up for another 5K in a couple of weeks. I plan to use the same strategy, and hopefully, I’ll have more juice at the end for the sprint to break the 20-minute barrier.