After much hemming and hawing, and despite Fred not making it home in time to watch Andra, I went to the race. (Dropped Andra off at my friend's house for a baby playdate.) And it was great! I haven't done enough races of any distance to fully realize that not every race has to be all out. My goal here was to run STEADY. As in, not go out too fast and then die by the end. With my lack of training, I figured an 8:15-8:20 pace was the goal, with 26:59 the slowest I wanted to be.
Despite the rain, there was a good turnout, including many of my students and the whole girls' field hockey team from the high school. I lined up with about 30 people in front of me, including some kids who I knew shouldn't have been at the front. I didn't know the course ahead of time, but having done tons of running and riding in this town, I figured out quickly where it was heading so I knew where the ups and downs would be.
First mile 8:25. Good news is I didn't go out too fast! Second mile 8:50. Whoops. Third mile plus .1, 8:36 (7:49 pace), for an end result of 25:52, 8:19 pace. That entire last mile was downhill and I knew it, so it was easy to speed up. This is one of the only races I've run the end faster than the beginning! It felt good, and I chatted with another woman during that last mile too. All in all a fun race! 7th in age group and I won a raffle prize of lunch for 2 at some chic restaurant in town. I knew if I didn't go, I'd feel crappy. I did go, and I feel great! And, the third woman overall, with a 6:49 pace, was...11 years old. Holy cow!
My toe did great too. I got some "dancers pads" for my shoe, which basically cushions around the toe joint and takes the pressure off. It's great! I'm not hobbling around at all from my Achilles yet either!
I think I could get into the shorter races. Before, I definitely preferred halfs! But, since I can't seem to get my ass in gear to do long runs, this works, and having done more, I like trying to figure out strategy and stuff. So, I see lots of short, fast, lunchtime treadmill or track runs in my future!
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3 comments:
Great race! See, you're faster than you think. :o)
I read these last two posts backwards in my reader, so it was neat to read what a fun race this was, then go back to read that you weren't really feeling it before hand!
Thanks for the encouraging comment on my "floundering goals" the other day -- I didn't realize it, but I guess I needed to hear that.
Well done on the 5K. Sounds like you had a great run. I think coming away feeling positive is better than time. And you were faster than you thought, so double-bonus :-)
That 11-year-old is one to watch! I'm not sure I could do a mile rep at that pace. Wow!
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