2008 Women's 5km Run

Well, I did not have a very good night but I felt ok in the morning, if only a little tired. My tummy was unsettled all night from something I ate yesterday, most likely the two sips of Erik's Ice Capp. That ALWAYS does it to me and I should have known better than to even let myself have a sip. Anyway, I was feeling better in the morning so I had my usual plain yogurt, banana, and dry oatmeal mix, skipped the coffee, and we headed down to the race at about 7:10.

I registered, stood in line for the bathroom again, and deliberated several times over what to wear. It was 13C, and the sun just starting to break thru the clouds. I was feeling chilly when the sun was behind the clouds tho, so I switched into a regular jersey instead of the sleeveless.

We did the mandatory warm up then went to line up. I got myself set fairly close to the front, since I was in the top 25 last year, I didn't want to have to weave around a lot of people at the beginning. I had my ipod set to 170 bpm Podrunner and my Garmin was on. I set off a bit too fast at first I think because my HR seem to soar right away, but maybe that was just nerves. I settled into a steady pace right away and had to run right off the road to get past a few people. Later, I'd wish I'd done that sooner because it turned out I was only 9 seconds short of a PR.

I kept up a fairly steady pace and soon found myself running on my own. As we got close to the turnaround point at about 2.3 km, I was able to count the people ahead of me as they passed me going the other way. It looked like I was about 21st at that point. I was thirsty so I grabbed a cup of water at the turnaround and had to walk and almost stop just to slurp it down. That was my second mistake that cost me a few seconds. Next year, I'll wear my fuel belt. In the last few kms, I passed a few more people and one woman passed me but I couldn't keep up with her so I let her go. The last km was hard and I couldn't wait for it to be over. I didn't feel like I could pull off a sprint at the end and was just happy to get to the end. Erik got a few pictures of me coming in and this time I wasn't quite so bagged at the end.

Stats

km1 - 5:22 (1% grade)
km2 - 5:41 (1% grade)
km3 - 5:10 (-1%)
km4 - 5:10 (-1%)
km5 - 5:13 flat

Avg Pace - 5:22
Avg HR - 171 bpm
Max HR - 185 bpm
Avg speed - 11.2 kmh.

I made sure to keep on walking so my legs didn't cramp up and I ate some shot blocks, drank lots of water, and did a lot of stretching afterward.

After the run, we watched the rest of the 5k's come, followed by the 10k's. Then we headed into the hall to see if we'd won a door prize. There were over 250 women in the race (5km and 10km total) and I think most of them were in that hall. I didn't win any of the cool door prizes, but I did manage to come in 3rd place in my age group and 18th over all and I won a nice running hat!

So it was a fun race and I am really happy I did it. I am even happier that Erik ended up being in town this weekend and was able to come and be my SAG crew. It made it all worthwhile having someone to cheer me on.


Thanks for all of your support!