Wow, what a race!

Photo by Michael Reyes.

I woke up on race day around 6 am and got ready. I popped a couple ibuprofin before heading out, just to ensure that my still slightly sore ankle wouldn’t bother me.

I arrived just before 7 am. I picked up my bib number and goodie bag, then did a brief warm up jogging to my car and back a couple times before some dynamic stretching. I had decided to wear my new running skirt and tank, and I was glad for this decision. I’ve decided I adore running skirts, since they don’t ride up like shorts do. Plus it has two convenient hidden pockets for things like car keys; none of my shorts have pockets at all. I also decided to use my new Amphipod as my phone holder, instead of my armband. I’ll talk more about that thing in the future.

I had planned in my head that I wanted to try to run it in 35 minutes. I was thinking of aiming for a 12:00 first mile, 11:30 for the second, and 11:00 for the final.

The race started around 10 after 8. Amanda was pushing her son in the jogging stroller, so I knew I was going to eventually take off and leave her, but we ran together for the first tenth of a mile or so. I was trying to pace myself, but she was running ahead of me, so I started out faster than I had planned, around 11 min/mile pace. And then I just kept that pace somehow.

The first mile I ran in 10:57. I was pretty amazed by this. I took a slight walk break at the first water station to gulp down some fluid and then kept on running. At the start of the second mile, you loop back so you are passing everyone still on the first mile. As I passed people I knew, we all cheered each other on. After that, I was on my own. A hill loomed toward the end of the second mile, and I ended up walking a bit of it to the second water station. Here, I took a few sips and then dumped the rest on my very sweaty (it was cloudy but HUMID) head before starting to run again. I clocked in the second mile at 10:13.

The final mile(ish) was pretty hilly and I found myself walking up a few hills. It didn’t bother me, since I was way ahead of my goal time. I sprinted across the finish line with an official time of 30:03.

Above you can see my overall pacing (and notice where my short walk breaks were). Below is a graph of my quarter mile splits, where you can see where I wore myself out a bit before the start of the second mile.

Now, according to my Garmin data, the course was slightly short of a 5k. It was around 2.85 miles. Still, even if there was another quarter mile to go, I would have easily beaten my 35 minute goal time and my previous PR of 36:47. I was still so energetic at the end of the race that I felt I could have run another 5k, ha. I guess it was all the adrenaline?

Photo by Michael Reyes.

I broke a lot of my personal bests. I beat my previous 1k best by four seconds, coming in at 6:12. I also (crazily) beat my one mile time at 10:09. And I scored my best two mile time with 20:47.

Overall, it was a pretty amazing day, and I am so proud of myself for what I have been able to accomplish so far!

Shoes: Skechers GoRun 2