Fireworks Later in July...

Results have finally been posted in the Ephrata Firecracker 5 mile run I did on the morning of the 4th. As I expected, they had me at 34:11 - though it took me about two seconds to cross the starting line, so I'll go to my grave calling it a 34:09.

Results weren't posted by age at all, but overall I came in 78th out of 546. That puts me in the 14% percentile, my highest finish percentage-wise to date. Link to results here.

Because there's often neat cases of symmetry in running, I checked out what 14% would've been in last year's Harrisburg Marathon and Hand-on-House 1/2 Marathon (my next two key road races):

At last year's Harrisburg Marathon, the 14th% finisher came in 66th, in 3:27.
At last year's Hands-on-House Half, the 14th% finisher came in 56th, in just under 1:34.

For what it's worth, 1:34 is a couple minutes faster than my 1/2 goal time of 1:35-36, but 3:27 is a good bit slower than my marathon goal of 3:15.

As one moves up in distance, I *think* training has a lot to do with improving where in the pack you finish. A talented person can "fake" their way into a top 14% 5k -- they can't do that in a marathon. At the same time, one could argue that nobody casual "tries" a marathon -- hence the need to be top 10% or so to hit 3:15.

Either way, this all suggests that if I train right, I'll be in the right ballpark.

4-5 easy miles tonight, sandwiched around a 1 mile race for the Office Olympics. Yes, you read that correctly. :) For the first time ever, I might win a mile race.

Comments

  1. hi there! found your blog through the tri-geek alliance. congrats on the 5-miler. have you done a marathon before? i'm training for my first this fall...and harrisburg might be in the picture. on a completely different note, the guy who owns my local bike store is a diabetic & cyclist...he sells electrolyte drops to make any drink a recovery drink without sugar... that must be so hard...after watching my sugar intake for so many years, it's weird to be told, YOU HAVE TO INGEST THIS PURE ICING GU STUFF IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BONK! anyway, hi from another fellow keystone stater! :)

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  2. oh! and i meant to comment on the pushcart nomination too! that's SO IMPRESSIVE. (i was an english major & love the good stuff...)

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