On May 12, 2018 I ran the Fifth Third River Bank 25K in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It is a huge race and also the USATF 25K Championships.
One year prior, I raced it for my first time. I was coming out of a winter with a bothersome left leg which limited my training, and I wasn’t ready for the pace I tried to keep and was about dead by mile 12. I limped myself through the final 3 miles to about a 01:56:00. It then became my 2018 goal to return and get a result I knew I could.
In early 2018 I upped my mileage, doing long runs of 14, 15 and 17 miles, and included regular hill training. On race day, I ran at a comfortable pace for the first 8 miles, which was a pretty steady 06:45 miles according to my watch. After that comes what they call “The hills” in this race – which by New Hampshire standards are tame as long as you’ve still got energy, which I did. After exiting the hills around mile 13 I picked up my pace to around 6:35s – and ran strong to the finish for a 01:43:56, or 12+ minutes better than last year’s performance
Results: https://runsignup.com/race/results/?raceId=11072#resultSetId-113839