Jingle Bell 5K On The Beach - Third Time's NOT The Charm

Yesterday was the third time I've run this race, and the past two times I ran it, I had a blast. The weather was pretty decent both times - not too cold or too windy - and, more importantly, since the race is run on the beach, the race was held at low tide. 

This year, not so much. 

When I pulled up to the beach, I saw that it was nearly high tide, and I was confused as to how exactly they expected us to run on the beach when it was nearly high tide. The answer - by weaving in and out of each other trying to find good (hard packed) sand to run on, by dodging waves, by sloshing through tidal pools, and by fighting the constant wind coming off the ocean. 

All the weaving, dodging, and sloshing required a LOT of energy - energy that I would much rather have just devoted to running. 

I did ok for the first mile - 8:07. I was struggling, though. And I wasn't sure if it was just my imagination, but it looked to me like other people were struggling, too. 

Mile 2 was much, much harder. The first turnaround brought us WAY up on the sand, and it was just torturous trudging through the stuff, and then the whole way back, we were running directly into the wind. It took me 8 minutes and 24 seconds to run the second mile, and after that, I wanted out. I just wanted to be done running. 

It was so frustrating to me to be pushing so hard, and to feel like I wasn't getting anywhere. I have no problem putting in the effort to run fast, but to put in all that effort and still feel like I was barely moving - it sucked. No matter what I did, I could not get below an 8-minute mile. 

So after mile 2, I stopped trying to get that sub-8-minute mile. I didn't throw in the towel completely, but I definitely stopped pushing quite so hard, and just finished the last 1.1 miles at a comfortable 8:30 pace. I just didn't see any point in killing myself, since I knew that a PR and/or an age-group award were out of the question. 

I cruised into the chute in 26:15. My slowest 5K in over a year. It was a little disheartening to see those numbers on the clock, but mostly, I was just glad I was done. 

I watched some other people finish, then had my post-race donut - which I DEFINITELY earned! - and waited for the results to be posted. 

When I saw that the top finishers - guys who ran this race in 17 or 18 minutes last year - finished in just over 19 minutes this year, I knew that it wasn't just me. It was a tough race. 

When all was said and done, I came in 27th out of 86 runners overall. And despite my sucky time, I still managed to place third in my age group. 

There were only medals for first place in each age group, so I didn't get any bling to take home, but it was nice to know I came in third, especially since the two women who beat me were both 21 years old - and have almost certainly not had two kids. 

So I may have had a crappy race, but my consolation is that I'm a 37-year-old mom of two, and I can hold my own with the 21-year-olds, so I think I'm doing just fine.

Comments

[J-mom]

That does not sound like fun at all!! Great job though!

[Chad in the Arizona Desert]

That sounds like a tough 5k for sure. Good job toughing it out and showing the youngins how it's done. We'll see if they are still out there running when they reach your age.

[Wes]

Running in loose sand is the pits!!! But kudos to you for realizing it was the environment and working through it!! Well done!