Me and The Boys: Celebration of Life 5K

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April 27, 2009

Celebration of Life 5K

I am one of those people who always arrives at a race at least half an hour before it starts, and sometimes a full hour before it starts. I don't like to have to rush, and the time usually passes quickly, so I figure, the earlier the better.

But Saturday, I really screwed up. I was awake plenty early enough, and planned on leaving early enough, but I kind of lost track of the time and ended up dashing out the door just 25 minutes before the race start. Since it was only a 10-minute drive, I figured I'd still get there in plenty of time to grab my number and do a very quick warmup.

I was wrong. Turnout was greater than I anticipated, so it took me a minute or two to find a parking spot, and the registration area was busy, too. I got my number, quickly pinned it on, made a quick stop at the bathroom, and jogged back to my car to put my shirt and goody bag away. That jog to the car and then back to the starting line served as my warmup, because I was out of time - when I lined up at the start, there were only two minutes to go.

I don't think it adversely affected my race performance in any way, but I will try my best not to arrive so late to a race again. I didn't like feeling like I was running out of time like that.

I did have time to take a moment to compose myself and take a deep breath, and get my mind focused back onto the race, and then we were off.

The weather was great. Mid-50s and cloudy. I had lined up pretty close to the front of the pack, so of course I went out too fast, as I usually do in 5Ks. I had taken a look at the course map just the day before, and I knew that I was in for rolling hills pretty much the whole way, and as I saw that I was wrapping up the first mile in 7:07, I knew I was going to pay for it later. And I did.

I was still feeling ok during the first half of Mile 2, but definitely starting to tire. The hills were getting to me. They weren't steep hills, but some were long, and they were just one after another. Up and down, up and down, up and down. Finished Mile 2 in 7:25, and I was really starting to hurt.

Mile 3 was painful. I just wanted to be done. I had to slow down a few times because I honestly thought I was going to throw up. Mile 3 was over in 7:33.

That last .1 is always a killer, though. I dug in and found enough strength for one final kick, coming into the chute at a 6:29 pace.

All I wanted to do was sit down (or throw up), but I walked slowly for just a minute, and grabbed some water, and felt much, much better.

It was a tough race, and I probably pushed myself too hard, but that's what I do at these shorter races. I have a really hard time holding back. I am vowing now, though, that the next 5K I do, I will NOT go out so fast at the beginning. I need to get better at that. I know it's a problem, and I know I need to change it, and try to run a more consistent pace. I always burn out during the final mile, and I hate that feeling.

But despite going out too fast for this race, I still managed to finish in a very respectable 23:33 - just 22 seconds off my PR, and good enough for a 2nd place age-group award!!!!

My award was just a black Everlast gym bag, but I'm still proud of it : ) Dante is now calling it his "sport bag," and fills it up with assorted toys and shoes and then brings it over and dumps all the stuff on the floor, saying he wants to show me his "collection."

I was also beyond thrilled to see that I placed 10th out of all women who ran the race! I'm still kind of in shock over that. Granted, it wasn't a huge race, and I know that's part of the reason I placed so well, but I'm still pretty excited about it. And I was 51st out of 427 overall.

So although I felt pretty crappy during that final 1.1 miles, it ended up being a pretty awesome race.

Now on to the half.....!!!!

Posted at 08:04 PM in Mommy Stuff, Races, Running | Permalink