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Lyons River Run 5k Race Review

I love going to races in small towns. Growing up in Iowa, almost every race that I ran was in a small town and connected with whatever spring/summer event the town had going on. Be it the Sweet Corn Festival, Watermelon Festival, Strawbery Festival, etc. Thus, going to a small town and parking a block away from the start line brings back fond memories.

Arrived at the race with temperatures in the low 60′s, a bit warmer than what I would like, but generally warmer weather is not that big of a deal when racing a 5k. In fact, I like it a bit warmer for a 5k than for a Half Maraton or Marathon, because it’s nice to let the sun warm up those muscles.

Just looking around, I knew that the Lyons 5k attracted some fast runners and this year was to be no different. The start of the race was a bit hectic, but JM and myself made sure to line up on the left hand side of the start line, running the tangents and to get the inside lane on the first turn which was about 100 meters from the start line.

The first mile had a bit of joslting for position, I kept looking at my watch, hoping to hit the first mile in 5:45, but came through in 5:41. I felt great, was running smooth and picking off other runners. Shortly after the first mile, runners made a loop in a parking lot, which was odd and the corners were a bit tight, thus I had to slow down. The second mile I felt great and came through in 5:40. At this point in the race, I couldn’t believe how well I felt and was confident that I could bust out another 5:40 mile for a 17:3+ 5k.

What I didn’t know was that the last mile of the course was completely different than the first two miles. The first two miles were run on city streets, plenty of room to move and solid footing. The third mile was a steady incline for .75 miles, but what made it difficult was that we were now diverted onto a bike/running path that was made of gravel.

When I hit the gravel, I immediately realized how hard it was to push off, compared to running on the roads. Combine the slow surface with the numerous turns on the trail and I mentally sort of checked out. It didn’t help matters that the guy closest to me was about 15 seconds ahead of me and no one was close to catching me, I could have used some competition that last mile to have kept myself sharp mentally.

With a tenth of a mile to go, runners had to make a 90 degree turn onto a bridge, where you can then see the finish. I kicked it in and finished in 17:55. I ran the last mile in 6:08.

I was pleased with my time, the goal before the race was to break 18 minutes. However, I was so confident going into that last mile that I could have busted out my fastest mile of the day, oh well. I just hate, hate, hate running on bike paths. The turns are sharp and the inclines and decline grades are always much steeper.

The Garmin had the course at 3.08. I suspect the course might have been a tad short, they also had to make a detour due to some flooding, thus the runners were diverted off the path, up on to the road and back onto the path, this created about two more sharp turns as well.

Overall, pleased with my race and I had a lot of fun, Lyons is a cool town. The Lyons River Run 5k was a great event, plan to do it again.

Finding a fast 5k in Colorado seems to be difficult and Evergreen cannot be tossed in there as that is not a legit course. The SkirtChaser 5k is probably my best hope for a fast time. The course is difficult, but running in the evening and having tons of runners to chase down (girls) gets me fired up to run fast.