ShoreTurtle – Running in and around New Jersey

Spring Lake 5 — Spring Lake, New Jersey

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Spring Lake 5 is a great race. I didn’t know what to expect last year, but I made an effort to enjoy the experience. I acknowledged the volunteers. I smiled at the spectators. I slapped hands with lots of kids. This year, I raced it. What a difference. I finshed 2:20 faster than last year and I set a 5 mile PR by 1:29. I feel as though I missed the race. I focused so much on keeping pace that I don’t remember much about the surroundings.

I picked up my race shirt, pint glass and goodie bag before the race and ran it back to my car. Not good. I arrived back at the start 10 minutes before the race began. I lined up much closer to the front this year. Good move. There wasn’t as much of a bottleneck. The temperature was 75. I carried a water bottle this year, which helped a lot. The gatorade kept me hydrated. There were 4 or 5 fire trucks spraying water throughout the course. I ran through them all. They cooled me slightly, though I was still overheated. I thought seriously about stopping. I felt like I was slowing down, though it was hard to tell if it was me or if the people around me were speeding up. My pace was part of my discomfort. With a mile to go, I knew that a PR was in reach. The finish is on a long straight away. I willed myself to the finish and tried to smile for the cameras.

My time was 37:14. My splits were: 7:43, 7:27, 7:22, 7:33, 7:08. My splits were similar last year. The first 3 miles were progressively faster. Mile 4 was slower. Mile 5 was the fastest.

I will definitely do the race again next year. I’ll try to enjoy it.

Update: I finished 409th of 7642. The registration was capped at 9500 which means around 1800 people decided not to run. A newspaper article about the race mentioned that around 50 people were treated for heat stroke. Interestingly, I finished 19 seconds ahead of Nevin Mann, age 37. I don’t think that we’re related.

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