Ben True, Molly Huddle set American 5K records in BAA race

“In front of the home crowd with the marathon in a few days, couldn’t be a better place,” said True, a North Yarmouth, Maine, native who now is based in Hanover, N.H.

“It’s so close to my home in Providence, and then I feel like a lot of people knew me out there, so it was awesome,” Huddle said.

Huddle started doing the math about 2 miles in, realizing the pace was fast enough to break Deena Kastor’s 2002 record of 14:54.

“When I was in high school I looked at that record and I was like, ‘That’s insane, I don’t know how Deena ever did that,’ ” Huddle said.

Mamitu Daska and Gelete Burka, the eventual third- and fourth-place finishers, were pushing a 4:30 pace for the first mile, Huddle said, putting her toward the back of the pack.

“I just kind of hung on for dear life, but then I’m more of a kicker,” Huddle said.

True, who broke Marc Davis’s 1996 American 5K record of 13:24, said he stayed shoulder to shoulder with Stephen Sambu, the second-place finisher at 13:23.

“I think Sambu was probably doing more of the pushing and I was just trying to hold on,” True said.

True said Sambu got inside on him in the last corner, allowing him to surge into the straightaway. But True, who won in 2011 and 2012, negotiated his position with about 150 meters left.

“Luckily, I was able to get the legs churning over and reel him back in,” he said.

Huddle, who also won the 5K last year, said she wanted to use the final turn to create momentum, though she was unsure if she could power to the front of the pack.

“Around the turn, I knew if I was going to push for it, that’s when I had to do it,” she said. “I didn’t know if I could pull out the win, I just went as hard as I could the last 100.’’

Both records came on a course altered from last year, which the BAA did to help create faster times. Two 90-degree turns were removed and the start and finish lines were on Charles Street between the Boston Common and the Public Garden. The straightaway from the final turn to the finish line is now shorter.

“You just start building up steam going down Boylston for almost a mile, and you can just keep building and building and building without ever having to turn,” said Davis, who also now serves on the race committee. “It’s got to help.”

Follow Rachel G. Bowers on Twitter at @rachelgbowers.