Henry goes for sub-19 5k

In his most serious race since starting training six months ago at 200lb, when he could hardly run a step, Henry Rono is gunning to go under 19 minutes this Saturday (December 9).

He's picked the Jingle Bell 5k in Cincinnati, Ohio for the attempt. It's a fast, flat course - and it's a sea level, which will allow Henry to take advantage of the merciless mountain training he has been doing in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Henry's commented in his letsrun.com reports: "The 180 day of training, phase II. I ran for 121 minutes. The legs are moving well. As I was running in the mountains, I was thinking and visualizing the 5k Jingle Bell race in Cincinnati next week. Thinking like this, six minutes pace and perhaps 5:50 minutes per mile. My arms moves left and legs right as the six months would allow me to do so.

"What do think of that? Is that sound a little bit weird or unrealistic to you? For sure I feel lighter in weights."

Requesting some advice on race strategy, Henry joked: "I will do it like this, close my eyes after one mile mark splits - then go through the last two miles as if I am going through a dark bridge tunnel - then at the end of a tunnel open my eyes after the tunnel and here is a bright light, which is a big apple ( under19 minutes)."