Race Result

Racer:	Steve Smith
Race:	Plaza America 5K
Date:	Saturday, April 12, 2003
Location:	Reston, VA
Race Type:	Run - 5 km
Age Group:	Male 30 - 34
Time:	0:16:56
Overall Place:	9
Comment:	Windy day, hard race

Race Report:

Saturday provided a gorgeous but windy day for a run. The Plaza America 5k has some cash awards, including a fastest-Restonian award of $125 that I was defending. Last year four guys went under 15-minutes! Obviously absent this year were the north Africans; the one guy that did come back ended up winning it this year. While he finished in No Man's Land last year with 16:05 or so, he came back with 14:50-ish this year. Ouch! That's fast. Fortunately, he hailed from NY, not Reston.

So the gun goes off, the lead pack takes off, and I settle into a pace. I ran by myself for the whole day until Todd Martin passes me at 2.5. Hell, having gotten pounded by Todd in my last race (Reston 8K in December), I was glad to know I was ahead of him at all. I won the fastest Restonian award, 2nd place in my age group, and finished with 16:57. The same result as last year on all three accounts. While the top-end speed was slower this year (only one sub-15 instead of four), the field was a little deeper as I finished 9th, well back from the first 7 guys (and Todd Martin just ahead of me).

Again, I thought I had a faster time in me, 16-mid or so. It's hard to say with the swim the night before and my total absence of any speed work this year. Sure, I've pushed the last mile or two of some Sunday runs, but nothing more than that, and nothing at 5K race pace. Oh well, back to the aerobic volume.

Plaza America is a great little race. Excellent post-race food, great winner's prizes and door prizes, and the proceeds ($120K) go to Children's Hospital. Like last year, I hung out for the award ceremony and then headed out for an easy 10-mile trail run. Probably not the brightest move, but I enjoyed myself. I highly recommend it (both Plaza America and the trail run) for the local folks.