The nice thing about 5K race reports is that they are short enough to entertain even the shortest of attention spans.
I recently ran a half marathon, 4 mile race and now 5K all within 2 weeks. This isn't normal for me. It was just the way the dates fell.
As I was telling Molly this morning, I didn't have very high expectations for this race.
I set a PR plan in my Garmin. Still, I was thinking there really was no way I could get the PR after racing 3 days ago....racing really hard....3 days ago. Today was the first day the soreness from THAT race, was finally gone.
I changed my thought process. I thought. For every single race in this 5K series, I'm going to run it as hard as I can. It's all for fun. Why not?
This race is always small, or so I thought. I lined up in the front. Well, close to the front. I picked out 3 people. My goal is to hang with a certain group as long as I can.
Today, I chose: Santa, Backpack Man, and Mango-Lady.
The race started, and the 3 took off like someone lit them on fire.
OK....maybe they weren't the best of choices.
I started running and looked at my garmin. It was beeping like crazy, telling me to slow down. I was running an 8:20 pace on a downhill.
FUCK YOU GARMIN. I'm not slowing down today.
That's when I decided to change my strategy. I was going to run hard.....but no matter how hard I was running, I had to go faster the next mile.
I caught BackPack Man about a half mile into the race.
I could see Santa and Mango Lady. Santa was taking the lead over Mango lady.
We pass mile 1.
I ran faster. This mile is hard because there's a long slow hill. Not particularly steep, but hey, when you're running a 5k, even the smallest of hills feel huge.
I am closing the gap on Mango Lady and Santa.
Then, Mango Lady stops for water.
I'm yelling at her in my head, "NO NO NO. Don't do that. Keep going!"
She's still ahead of me. Now, she's passing Santa.
At 1.75, I pass Santa. I am closing the gap on Mango Lady.
At around 2.25, I catch Mango Lady. I can tell she wants to keep up. I can feel her on my elbow.
But I have a secret!
I'M NOT LEFT HANDED!
I still have gas left in the tank.
I start running. I can see the finish. I can tell that I've dropped Mango Lady. Now, it's on. I have to just hold on to what I'm running. How fast? I have no idea. I can't look. I'll lose it if I do. I feel sick. I want to stop. I just want to back off a little.
I know I passed 2 miles in right around 18 minutes. I know that I'm heading toward a PR. I just don't know how much.
With whatever I have left, I passed 3 miles. This is it.
How can 1/10 of a mile feel SO LONG.
I cross the finish.
Again, I almost pass out right after crossing the finish line. Almost. I get some water and go run my cool down. I thought they'd have results posted when I got back.
They didn't.
It doesn't matter. Whether or not it was a PR, I KNOW I went hard. I KNOW I went faster each mile.
That in itself is a win.
Of course, even a win can be sweeter with a PR....and it was.
That makes 3 PRs, at 3 different distances, in 2 weeks.
PRETTY F*CKING AWESOME.
