It’s a little weird, because lately I’ve been running longer distances. Before the race, I couldn’t remember the last time I ran “only” 5K. I had no idea what to expect of myself.
I set a goal between “There’s no way in hell” 30mins, and the “Would be cool” less than 33mins. The fastest I had ever run 5km was just under 34mins and that was with Skye pushing and (pretty much) yelling at me to go faster. This was actually my first race ‘by myself’.
I ran my warm-up with Lara and felt completely psyched out. I was feeling tired and winded… but I wasn't tracking how fast/far we were going… so who knows, maybe I was setting an unrealistic warm-up pace. I placed myself near the back of the pack at the start line. Which leads to kind of a hilarious moment when they announce “3, 2, 1 - GO!” and you end up just standing there waiting for the crowd ahead of you to get going. Then finally: Time to get moving!
I started out “easy”, because I like to gauge how much I’ve got in the tank, and then attempt to use it all by the end. At my pace, I was in this awkward group of people who were walk/running. So I played hopscotch with a handful of people. There was this one girl in particular who was easy to spot and I chose her to “keep up” with.
The course is an out and back. So less than halfway through (at my pace) you get to see the ‘Elite’ runners coming back. It is SOOO awesome to watch. The only downside is that it tricked my brain a little and made me start thinking that the “back” part of the “out + back” was happening sooner than it was.
On the way back, my legs were excited, and pushed onward. HOWEVER, it wasn’t all rainbows and lollipops. My breathing was getting really bad. I was breathing HARD and making the strangest noises. So much so, other runners were looking at me like I was crazy/going to die. I kept hearing Rayna saying "who can't run 2km?", an inside joke we love to say when things are feeling uncomfortable.
Before I knew it, I saw the finish line. I was EXCITED and pushed myself as hard as I could. I got close and I started SPRINTING, I got across the line and then I heard Skye yelling from the sidelines "You're not done!! Keep going!!" That line was just the start of the 100m sprint. *Facepalm* I had NOTHING left. That last 100m, an 80yr old man with gout could probably have gone faster than me. I had passed the girl who I was trying to keep up with, but in that last 100m she made it past me. Sweet victory was all mine though when I found out my chip time was faster than hers.
I almost forgot to tell you my chip time! 31:33, baby! What a crazy awesome achievement. I'm feeling reeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaally good about that time. Cutting over 2 minutes off my previous PR.
