2025 Brian Kraft 5K

The day before the race, my wife took the boys (each with a friend from school) to Valleyfair:

My youngest about to take his friend on Wild Thing (my FAV) for the first time!
(Turns out the friend didn't love heights...)

I stayed home and started blasting flaking paint and concrete off our foundation:

Far from "backbreaking" work, but just annoying.


Gross and annoying.

Henry and I woke up early because he was racing with me! We got our numbers and hit the potties:

My traditional photo. :)


I was gifted with a PALACE to shit in! (My view from the throne.)


Team photo shortly after!

My race plan was to see what the first mile would hold, keep the 2nd mile fast (like I did at last year's Brian Kraft 5K after letting too much time slip away in the 2nd mile 2 years ago at this race), and then see where that all put me heading into mile 3. Would I be hurting and dying and just wanting to finish? Or was there the chance to see a possible PR on my watch? Pre-race, I was NOT gunning for a PR, but I still knew it was a possibility... I was just trying not to think about that too much.

I lined up a bit closer to the front than I usually do. "Former student Jeremy" tapped me on the shoulder and lined up next to me - you'll remember him if you're a long time reader. We inched our way up and were ready when the gun went off.

I took off STRONG but not FAST (I thought). I let people pass me without trying to keep up. I was stuck a BIT in the middle of the road as it kept curving to the left, so I was aware I wasn't running the best tangent.

Laurie's photo of me about a 1/4 mile into the race.

I stayed with that woman for about the first half of the race. My first half-mile split was FAST, but I wasn't thinking about a PR at all... I had to see how the next 10 minutes would play out first. A times I felt "stuck" in traffic not running the best tangent, but at other times, I felt like I was appropriately "dropping in" behind a small group for a little "pull." My second half-mile split slowed up, but I was still right around PR pace at mile 1:

• Mile 1: 5:29.9 (2:41 + 2:48)

(It's funny how "dialed in" I've become these last few years to be able to say that 2 splits with a 0:07 difference between them were TOO FAST and a BIT TOO SLOW!)

Now is when I'd see what I could do. Would I have the strength to shoot for a PR? Or would I start to crumble? I got my next split back on track with a 2:44, but then slowed up a little coming to the mile 2 marker (which was into the slight breeze that we had out there on an otherwise perfect day):

• Mile 2: 5:32.1 (2:44 + 2:47)

My watch was beeping WELL before the mile markers because of those poor tangents early on. So I wasn't thinking there'd be a chance of a sub-17:05 PR. I knew I'd turn in a very decent time, but I wasn't going to see my time starting with "16" when I hit the line.

I ran ALL of mile 3 by myself! That's a bit shocking when it's a 5K with 500 people and 80 were in front of me! I maybe passed a guy right when we crossed the mile 2 marker, and then I passed someone right before the mile 3 marker, so I was all by myself for a good 0.8 to 0.9 miles.

The first half of the 3rd mile was my slowest split. Damn. I wasn't really "crashing and burning," but I was just running out of juice. If I was mentally tougher, I think I could have pushed through it. But I couldn't. Or didn't want to. I was slowing up a little but didn't care. The last half of mile 3 was a little better:

• Mile 3: 5:33.3 (2:49 + 2:43)

That's a rare positive split for me... albeit a GENTLE one where I just added 2.2 seconds and 1.2 seconds each mile. I worked hard to the line.

• Final 0.1 mile: 0:42

Coach Laurie's pic of me about 5 seconds from the finish.


Gotta work on those hunched shoudlers! Yikes.

OFFICIAL RESULTS:

Steve Stenzel, M, 44, St. Paul

17:18
5:34 pace

78 out of 485 overall
73 out of 295 men
9 out of 59 in the 40-49 male age group
81% age graded time

I passed 14 people, 21 people passed me.

[Garmin: 3.13 miles in 17:17 (5:31.31 / mile pace)]

Well, I can't be bummed about that! That's my 3rd fastest 5K! It's behind last year's Brian Kraft 5K which was an unexpected 17:05 PR, and the Human Race 5K back in my 20s where I ran a 17:11 (and like I said last year when I PRed, I never expected to hit that time ever again!). I ran an indoor 5000 in 17:17 when Henry was a baby as well, but that's it for 5Ks or 5000s that are faster than this one.

I'm curious what I could have done if I didn't have such a fast opening split. I've been trained to negative split runs, so could I have gotten some time back if I didn't go out SO hard? I don't know. I'm not upset about it. I went out hard and just couldn't quite hold on. I still came away with a good time.

The 5K is just over a lap around Lake Nokomis.
(Split #7 was me accidently hitting SPLIT instead of STOP at the finish.)


That orange and red isn't from the finishing sprint, but the opening 200 meters. Starting fast!

Henry snuck up on me as he came to the finish line because he posted a better time than he thought! I saw him at the last second, and didn't get photos until he was well past me:

Henry heading to the line!


Close-up: lots of hair and shorts! :)


Post-race photo of Henry and me! (He's on a curb - he's not THAT TALL yet!)

Henry PRed last fall with a 22:15 at the TC 5K in October, and he ran a 22:39 at Brian Kraft last year. This year, he split those times and ran a 22:31! Off little run training! I think he'll be a beast after a season or 2 of cross country if he tries that in high school! He was feeling pretty rough post-race. We like to grab a treat from Mel-O-Glaze bakery, but he didn't want to smell donuts. "Just go in and grab something you'd think I'd like. Don't show me. I'll eat it later at home." Yikes. Poor guy.

I got Henry a long john, and I got a HUGE apple bomb.


On the 10 minute car ride home. We were actually home 65 mins after the race started!


Finish line still of me finishing. One of the 2 guys well behind me was the guy I passed around mile 3.


Henry finishing in the middle of a few guys.


A lunch date later with my cutie a few hours later at "Egg & I."