Hollis Fast 5K

Raced the Hollis Fast 5K in New Hampshire for the first time tonight. The course drops several hundred feet over three miles and gives you a great chance to get a 5K PR. I was hoping to do that, but came up just short. I was well-trained... for a longer race. My weekly mileage has been in the high 30's lately, and I've brought my weight down to the low 170's, but I've only done a few track workouts, and short ones at that. So although the conditions were perfect at race time (temps in the high 50's with a light rain, heavier rain at the finish) I still only ran my third or fourth fastest 5K, a 19:33.

just before the finish of the 2013 Hollis Fast 5K

I enjoyed the race and am glad I did it and certainly would recommend it, but to be honest I'm not sure I'll do it again. The field was huge (it was a New England Grand Prix event this year) and the traffic was pretty heavy. And unless you do a 3-mile warmup from the finish, you have to take a bus to the start. All of which means it's quite a production for a short Thursday evening race. As an introvert I think I'm just more comfortable with smaller events.