Racing to Remember 5k - Race Report

This 5K wasn't initially on my race calendar.  I'm not a huge fan of racing in the summer, especially since I haven't been training in it (until my half training started a few weeks ago.)  A friend of mine decided to run it in honor of her dad, so I joined her.  We did this race last year, and it wasn't one of my favorites but you can't beat a race for a good cause.

Friday morning, my alarm didn't go off (or I managed to turn if off in my sleep).  That meant paranoia Saturday morning.  I woke up at 4:30, and never let myself go back to sleep fully - more like dozing every 10-15 minutes to make sure I got to the race on time.

On time is an understatement.  I ended up getting there so early, the registration table wasn't even ready for me.  I hadn't preregistered, so I got a chance to scope out the t-shirt before committing $5 to it.  I hit the porta-potty, then played on my phone until Christal and Kristi arrived.

Having ran the race last year, I felt pretty familiar with the course.  Flattish, with a bit of a downhill finish.  I didn't have a real pace plan, but figured anything close to 8:30 range would be good.  I was hoping to pick it up towards the end, but I'm notoriously bad at negative splits in short races.

Mile 1 - 8:24

I tried to pick up my pace a bit, but the humidity was horrid (90%+).  I quickly knew I'd be doing well to maintain my pace.  Swinging wide at the turn (last year the course was short) I tried to pick it up with no luck.

Mile 2 - 8:25

In the last mile, there is a bit of an incline before the downhill finish, cause that's how uphills work. I tried to push without puking.  I suspected I was 1st in my age group, I only had to maintain to reach this racing milestone.  My pick up on the downhill wasn't enough to make up for the sluggish uphill.

Mile 3 - 8:41

About a quarter mile to go, I started to push so hard I suspect I might vomit.  Between that and the horses chasing me on the side of the road, I'm quite pleased with my final kick.

0.1 - {7:42}

Yes,  there were horses.  Yes, this run was held on a major 4 line highway.  No, the horses weren't behind a fence. 

Final time - 26:32 

Christal finished shortly behind me and we grabbed someone to get our picture.  She ended up earning a 2nd place A/G award (turns out the woman ahead of me who I was unsure about is Christal's age.)

The night before, Kristi had asked me to help her finish like last year.  I grabbed my water and trotted back to her - encouraging her to walk/run the last half mile or so for a strong finish.  I'm very proud of her!  She ended up with a 3rd place A/G award.

 


I was about 45 seconds from a PR (I'm getting so spoiled to expect them these days), but I didn't get too upset about it.  After looking at the results, my first official 1st place A/G win more than made up for it!