Race Recap - Kaiser Permanente Corporate Challenge 5k

In the immortal words of Josh Ferenc this race was a colossal “cluster cuss”. I entered this race as part of the Falcons G.O.A.L fitness/Health & Wellness program (Get Out And Live). Through our company we got a free entry so I figured I had nothing to lose, save maybe a little pride if I got smoked. I entered the elite field with my Run the Rails 10k time, but I never got my number at work. I figured someone would have it at the race so I hoped in my buddy Matt’s new truck with him and we headed downtown to Turner field on for the race. Upon arrival, all hell broke loose for me.

It took us forever to park then when we got to our tent it was abandoned and resembled the scene after the Skywalker ranch got ransacked by storm troopers in Episode IV. We eventually found everyone in the middle of the pack getting ready to line up at the start. Of course no one had my number. I’d already given up on any hope of being able to warm up, but I thought I’d at least have a number, no dice. At this point I was kind of pissed because I really wanted to see what I could run. I thought about just jumping in and running it with the people from work and hanging out, then I decided (again in honor of Ferenc) cuss that! I threw on my Saucony jersey, hopped one of the fences and lined up just behind the elite section.

Just before the start the race volunteers dropped the rope dividing the rest of the runners and the elite section so I made my way up to the second row and got ready to roll. At the start, I got out good to try and get up with the leaders. About 200 meters into the race I was finally able to latch on to a group of four or five runners, running between 4^th and 8^th or so. I had to do a little extra work to get there but once I got in the group I settled in and ran right on the shoulder of the guy in front of me. I recognized one of them, David Bell, who I remembered from the Thrill in the Hills half marathon. I hung with that group for about three quarters of a mile, but I have a tendency to get impatient, especially with all the anxiety of trying to get to the starting line, so right around the mile mark I made a move to try and catch the next group of guys ahead of us.

I used a downhill to surge and catch the guy in third then second. I took over second place and then focused on the leader thinking I’d probably blow up somewhere around two miles. I took a look at my watch and realized I was running at a good clip, between 5:06 and 5:08 pace on my Garmin. I was a little worried it was too fast, but I just tried to tune those thoughts out and focus on catching the leader. About 1.5 miles into the race we climbed a long gradual uphill that I ran surprisingly well. I was able to maintain that pace and was slowly but surely chipping away at the lead.

I missed the second mile mark and I didn’t hear my watch beep for the spilt, but I was really trying to focus on cutting into the lead. I knew I didn’t have much in the way of wheels, but I figured if I could catch the leader on the long straight away over the final 600 I’d be able muscle past him and get the win. At this point I was really surprising myself. I took a quick glance back as I rounded a turn but I didn’t see anybody, I still felt good and I was almost sure I would catch the leader. This was a shock since I figured I’d be struggling to finish in the top 10 not having a shot to battle back for the win.

With 800 to go I was sure I was going to win. I could see myself powering past this guy and running away from him at the end of the race. We made the final turn onto Hank Aaron Blvd and I started the hard charge for the finish line under the Olympic rings outside of Turner Field. I’d closed to within 20 or so yards of the leader and felt like I was going to pull even and then past him any second, he went out too fast I told myself…but…with about 200 to go, reality set in. I just didn’t have any more gears or any more gas. I made one last push but it didn’t do any good, over the course of the race I’d closed what was probably a 100-meter lead down to 10 or 15 meters but that was as close as I was getting. I ended up cruising through the finish in 15:58 for second place.

When I looked down at my watch, I was pumped. There is no way in hell I thought I’d run that fast. I thought 16:30 would be a great result. It was the fastest 5k I’ve run since Iron Teams in 2007 when I ran 15:30.  The last 5k I ran was in Philly in 09 and I ran 17:04. I’ll take 15:58. I just wish I would have run one during the summer when I was really training. Either way, it was a great race for me and it has really made me feel good about the fact that I’ve pushed myself to get into work early and run before starting my day.

Overall it was a good experience. It was fun to run with people from work. Everyone was pumped that I got second and finishing under the Olympic rings was really cool. My only complaint, besides running bandit and having to explain my situation to the RD was that they had no results and no awards. Kind of weak sauce for such a big race (25,000 people).