Race Report from one of the original Donkeys – John Gardiner who is an elite masters runner living out in so cal. This past weekend he was in the Carlsbad 5000 one of the best 5K races in the country. $1000 for first place in the masters race….This is how you race. Win lose or draw, you don’t sit and wait, you make moves and see who can respond. Love reading this stuff and love hearing about races where there is actual racing going down, most of us compete with ourselves to achieve a personal best, but when you are in the hunt, everything changes and great things happen. Congrats on the podium JG.
The picture above is John (in blue) not looking back, but actually checking for trains as he rolls past the tracks. Note Hi vis shoes….
“I was super close to getting the win yesterday. And had a blast trying. The pace went out a bit slower than I expected and I felt awesome. I sat in the pack cruising through mile 1 in 5:01. The pace still felt easy in the 2nd mile and we still had a half dozen guys in the pack including two of the best masters milers in the country. I needed to ditch the milers so when we hit the 2nd mile mark in 10:05 I threw in a monster surge. I tore the pack apart and no one was able to tuck in behind me. I went solo from there and just kept trying to pour it on. I thought I had it with 400m to go. With 300 to go, my legs began to protest. Loudly. I tried holding my form together, but with about 150 to go (just past the 3 mile mark), one of those milers I was worried about just blew past me. I managed to stay upright and hold on for 2nd…
PS – In case any of us masters guys were thinking about getting a big ego, two hours after our race we watched 39 and a half year old Bernard Lagat take 2nd in the elite race. In 13:19. I won’t be quitting my day job…”
-JG