Sunday, May 26, 2013

Field of Heroes 5K 2013

Finally, I ran a race!

Earlier this week I just went crazy online and found races and signed up.  I think I might even be able to get to my 12 races for the year, that's how crazy I went.  In fact, I have three races in three weeks.  I. CAN'T. WAIT.

I started out with a local 5K today.  The run I did on Friday had been great: 7.3 trail miles at a 9:05 average with 3.5 of those miles under a 9:00 pace.  I was pretty confident I might be able to run in the 8:00s for a 5K and come in right around a 25:00ish.  The weather was chilly for a Memorial Day run but great for a faster race.  The race was small - around 300 people - so I lined up just a little back from the start line.  Of course, I was lined up behind a small girl and in front of someone who looked serious.  Hmm, this ought to be interesting.

Anderson looked ready to race.

I sorta look ready to race.

Even with a bad self-seeding I got off pretty good and just got comfortable.  I wasn't expecting much from this race.  I just wanted to use it as a jumping off point for the year.  I hit the first mile marker at 7:52.  Okay, well, that's faster than I thought I would be and I'm not dying.  

Before the second mile marker was a water stop.  I took some water, or so I thought, and had a sip.  Yuck!  Orange Gatorade.  Seriously, who needs Gatorade in a 5K?  (I guess you could make the argument, who needs water in a 5K?)  I hit the second mile marker at 7:50.  Wow!  Consistent.

But then I was in no man's land.  I had passed a bunch of people but there was really no one ahead of me to catch.  The Gatorade had caused a cramp in my stomach and so I stopped and walked for a blink of a second.  Who walks in a 5K?  I got moving again and saw Dave and the munchkin.  I felt like hell and might have looked like it too.


Dave pointed out to me that I was the fifth female and that there was a little girl ahead of me.  Yep, I was being beat not only by a dog that had passed me earlier, but by a 10 year old girl.  Awesome.  I tried my hardest to catch that little girl, pulling a 7:38 third mile, but came up a little short.  Although in the official results I did beat her by one second.  Gotta love chip timing.


I was the fourth overall female finisher with a time of 24:06.  It's a long way from where I was last year at this time, but pretty good for having a C-section just 8 weeks ago.  It's a good jumping off point for the rest of the season.

 
 



2 comments:

Betsy said...

And who gives medals for 5ks?

I walked during a 5k once and had the same thought! Who walks during 5ks, I guess I do now!

Meredith said...

ALL the races around here include a shirt, a medal, and chip timing. That's why the prices are obnoxiously expensive.