No one reads them anyway so I will just put it here. I did this one on Saturday morning. I haven't done it in a bunch of years. I guess the date conflicted with dog shows or something. It's in the neighborhood and even closer than I realized when I actually decided to run to the start instead of driving my car.
Yeah, so to make it a longer run, I ran to and from the race. It's a bit over 2 miles from my house. Last night I suddenly realized just how familiar I am with the course, since I have to drive about half of it everytime I go to and from the dog training club. And the route there is part of a 4-mile out and back that I do pretty regularly.
The nice thing about the run there is that it was mostly downhill until the end, which I walked so I would not be too out of breath when I went to pick up my race number. I was pretty sweaty and disgusting by that point, and feeling quite self-conscious.
It was a very small crowd this year, less than 75 people for the walk and the run. Don Connolly (race director) actually told us all at the start that they would just skip the award ceremony and hand us our medals as we crossed the finish line, since they had more than enough medals to give one to everyone there. That worked for me, because I didn't want to stay for the awards ceremony since I needed to get going on that jog back home before I stiffened up.
A newspaper article had said that they were hoping to get over a hundred people this year. I guess there was just too much competition, with at least two other 5ks going on at the same time this weekend. I know there were more people there last year, when Susan and Becky ran it. I think there was a high school girls team that showed up last year, and they skipped it this time for some reason.
It's a double loop course. They always describe it as mostly flat, which is ridiculous because it is more than half hills. For some reason, the hills didn't seem as long or as steep to me this year. I've done this one in the 23-24 minute range, but that was a long time ago. Last time, I was in the 27s, but that was on a year when I had already done the Madiera Mile and the Hyde Park Blast in the days right before this race. My goal time was 28:30 (9:10 pace), very modest but in line with my current training and racing.
At the start, lined up behind the fitter-looking women. Not too many of them, so couldn't go too far back. Went through the first mile under 9 minute pace, and was pretty pleased. Passed a woman wearing an Ipod right away, and happy with that too. Passed two of the fit women right before the first water stop at the halfway point back by the start/finish area. Just kept thinking, glide, glide, glide---that is kind of my new mantra, I guess. I am smooth and I glide. I just glide right past you.
Well, before too long the fitter of these two women couldn't take it anymore so she passed me back. I let her get ahead but stayed pretty close behind her. Sometimes drafting off her, sometimes just using her for shade. Second mile was in the 8:40s. Woohoohoo. And I wasn't even feeling too bad.
Didn't see a mile marker for 3. Tried to finish strong without throwing up. Could have caught that woman but that would have meant throwing up. Her friend was struggling and well back. They turned out to be younger than me anyway.
Finished in an official time of 27:24, which was much better than my goal, and even a little faster than the last time I did this race. Had a cup of water, walked around in circles for a bit to catch my breath, and then grabbed another cup of water to sip on as I started the slog home. I basically walked until the water was gone and then switched to a jog. It wasn't as awful as I expected, even though it was mostly uphill.
In the end, I was 8th woman overall (not saying much since it was such a small race) but only 3 of 3 in my age group. The women who beat me (by several minutes) were so far ahead that I never saw them after the start.
So, glad I got in this pretty good little workout close to home, and I will try to make it back there for this race when the schedule permits.
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