Santa Monica 5000

My second race of the fall was last week (October 7th) at the Santa Monica 5000. I was looking forward to getting onto the roads after a pretty challenging cross country course a few weeks earlier. I had been dissatisfied with the way I had competed in my first race out and so I had a concrete goal to stay engaged during this race.

My training indicated I was probably good for something in the mid 15s for the 5k and that is just about where I fell in (15:46). Excluding a sleepy mile two, where I ran a bit slow, I managed to run strongly throughout the entire race and caught 4-5 competitors the last mile or so. The course was simple and scenic. Starting out just south of the Santa Monica Pier looping back around to Ocean Ave before making a quick u-turn to finish at the Pier.

Somewhere the last mile. 

The lead group went out quickly but that wasn't where my race was going to be. I had no choice but to let them go and concentrate on staying positive and running within myself. I floated around 15th-20th place through most of the first half of the race before I could notice runners ahead of me tiring a bit. I knew the last 1200 or so of the course was going to be on a slight decline and I wanted to make sure my momentum was really picking up the last mile.
I counted 4-5 runners lined up ahead of me and set out to catch them one by one. I probably missed one or two but I came away with a solid effort and great weekend experience.

Steve Murdock and I had driven up from San Diego together and roomed the night before. We had some time to kill before check-out so we took our stuff down to the beach and cooled off in the waves. The ocean was a refreshing reminder that everything can start anew. As quickly as you can build something you can also wash it away, but, you can always rebuild it again. Just like my fitness slowly but surely continues to improve. I should always value my ability to train hard and race well, and I will.

A big thanks to the organizers of the Santa Monica 5000. They put on a great event in a great city. Hospitality was amazing and I definitely look forward to racing there again! Another shout out should go to Forest Braden and the UCLA Men's AND Women's cross country squads for both achieving top 25 rankings at the same time for the first time in school history. "Witness the Fitness" indeed! Great job crew!

Next up are two cross country races (at Cal State San Marcos and another locally in SD) before Thanksgiving festivities! Hope to see you out there!