I loaded up on a pot of coffee during my night shift at work in hopes that it would keep me going. It did, in fact, during the 1 hour before the race start, I think I went 3 different times, and once in the bushes behind an electrical junction box immediately before the race start. (Sssshhh, don't tell.) But, it also gave me the caffeine boost that I needed I guess. I did a 1 mile warmup jog, then settled in for the start. The event also included a 2 mile walk in addition to the 10k. The instructions were very clear that walkers were supposed to line up at the back, but I was slightly annoyed to find out that a horde of walkers were also up front. Guess they felt that had every right to line up wherever they wanted.
My initial goal was to just run this event as a nice run, since I was tired, and my knee hurt quite a bit during my warmup jog. But, the warmup loosened me up and I started out strong. Since I was in a mood to get the hell away from all the walkers up front, I weaved my way through them, and finally got into some clear air in about one quarter mile. Everything just felt good today, so I continued to put the hammer down. The knee ached throughout the run, but not enough to slow me down.
The course was a flat and fast, an out and back. At just over 2 miles in, the lead men were already on their way back, so seeing the Speedy Gonzales folks at the front was inspiring and made me want to push it even harder. Saw my PT as the lead woman of the pack, and that inspired me to keep pushing. At the 3.1 turnaround, I was just 20 seconds off my 5k PR pace and still feeling good, so I told myself to lay it all on the line. The last mile was a complete blur, as I just focused on my breathing, watched the ground in front of me as I continued to pick folks off left and right. My lungs were burning, my knee hurt like hell, but I gave it my all. I tried for a hard kick in the last 0.2 of the race, and found I still had a little to give, although I don’t really remember crossing the finish line. Then did a 1 mile cooldown just enjoying the moment.
All in all, it was an awesome race, despite being dog tired from working the midnight shift, and initially not wanting to do this race at all. I grabbed a water and covertly grabbed bagel from one of the corporate sponsor tables after the race, grabbed my souvenir koozy cooler (no medals for this race, bummer), then stopped at Mcdonald’s for my celebratory meal of Pancakes and coffee, which has become a tradition of sorts after long or hard runs. My pace splits were 8:33, 8:29, 8:15, 8:09, 8:11, 8:09, and 7.55 for the last 0.2, for a total of 51:46, which is 1 1/2 minutes faster than my previous 10k pace earlier this spring. Overall, I’m super pleased with that time, even though it's still within the back of the pack for my age group (35-39). The second 5k would definitely be a PR for me also.
It was a beautiful morning, couldn’t have asked for better weather, and I had a great time, and I got a PR! Priceless!
A pic of me after the race, before heading to bed, showing off my koozy! Sorry it's so grainy and off-color, the Iphone camera doesn't do very well sometimes.
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