Martin Luther King 5K

14:50, 1st Place Overall

* Completely crazy race. I had sort've planned on this double ahead of time (racing both the Audi Scholarship 10K and the Martin Luther King 5K), but I had my doubts, especially after my dismal performance yesterday (time-wise, not effort-wise). However, learning of Ronnie Holassie's trip to Houston to race in the US Half Champs solidified my plans to race, since I figured there was no way he was going to line up for this 5K, even with the airplane ticket on the line. So, worst-case scenario, is that I would run 16-minutes and at least win some plane tickets for psychological consolation of my race weekend.

Well, a Rodriguez-race trip is never without difficulties, and so we arrived with 15-minutes to spare before the race, which barely gave me time to warm-up, which might have been a blessing. I was very tight and stiff with a lot of muscle soreness, but I did some strides, and while I was running guess who I saw jogging around the course: Ronnie Holassie and Kenyan Paul Mwangi! Great, I thought. What the heck are they doing here!? What was I doing here!? Holassie is the legendary runner in Miami. A 2:13-Marathoner who led the 2000 Sydney Olympic Marathon through halfway (finishing 32nd), he is a world-class talent from Trinidad & Tobago and a world-class person. However, I knew he had to be tired after running 1:07:18 the day before, especially for a 39-year old phenom. I'm getting old, but not that old...

So, after getting in trouble again for using nature's restroom (long story), my wife tells me that she hears that Mwangi, the Kenyan, will be rabbitting Holassie through 2 miles on a very fast pace. I figure, what the heck, what do I have to lose. I was just going to hang with them until I could no longer, until my hamstrings tightened up too much or until I completely fell apart. I had nothing to lose, as the prize (American Airlines World Ticket) only went to the victor.

The cannon (literally, a cannon) boomed and off we went. Did I mention this race was on MLK Blvd. in inner-city Miami? So, I was probably in 30th place through the quarter, in which several young men and a couple girls went through in under 55-seconds. I crossed over the street and immediately tucked in behind Mwangi and Holassie. I couldn't really run behind them as they were obviously faster than me. Holassie looked so smooth, and Mwangi, well, he just looked Kenyan, but since I had defeated him yesterday over 10K, I did not truly consider him a threat, though over 5K he could be even more dangerous. Anyway, there were no mile splits, so I did my best to just compete, and man, was I sprinting. I just hung on to my 20m gap behind Holassie and Mwangi, and I think somewhere by a mile, Mwangi fell off, and I was left alone chasing Holassie down MLK Blvd. among throngs of fans lining the streets. Holassie, the several-time champion of this 23rd Annual event, was the obvious favorite, as almost everyone knew his name. I kept hanging tough, virtually sprinting the whole way. By 2 miles, I pulled even with Holassie and we just ran side by side, at times he would pull ahead and at others I would. Finally, we took one last right hand turn (the course was a square) on what I figured was the last turn home, checked my watch, which read 11-something, so I figured we had to have about 800 meters remaining and started to gap Holassie. I had felt strong the whole way, with no muscle fatigue, but the sad part was that I was running all-out and had been for the past 12-minutes so I didn't know how I was going to out-kick him or win. However, my move and strength was enough as I pulled away significantly over the last 600 meters to win in a new course record, 14:49 (rounded to 14:50- the old was Holassie, 14:54 in '00) and a nicely unexpected road PR.

This picture speaks volumes of my effort:

What a great race and experience. I was feeling very down after yesterday's race, as I know I have been working well and capable of such a performance, but for it to come the day after a solid 10K effort, was icing on the cake. I figure I just ran 4:45's every single mile, without much variation. It was so satisfying to have no muscle tightness or fatigue other than the feeling of wanting to puke with 400m to go. My whole body just wanted to get sick.

Afterwards, I had to work the Martin Luther King, Jr. Parade and I walked over 30 blocks in a procession celebrating the great leader of our nation. It was fun and a good way to work out the muscle soreness, post-race. Next up will be another low-key 10K in favor of a workout and then the big one: the ING Miami Half Marathon course record attempt...