Kirtland Strides of March 5K Race Report

Some things just turn out better than you expect they will. The Kirtland Strides of March 5K was one of those things. It's close to home and for a good cause so my husband and I had it on the race calendar as a tentative. After running St. Malachi a couple weeks back and both running PRs, we decided to keep it on the calendar as a good possibility (assuming we both felt good about it closer to race date).

Saturday we discussed and both felt positively that the weather and conditions should be plausible for a decent race. We decided to run it assuming we felt fine that next morning so we went ahead and got our race stuff ready the night before and headed to bed at a reasonable time. We woke up and felt okay. I didn't feel very nervous, which was not the case with St Malachi. We got dressed in our race gear, ate some granola and headed to the Holden Arboretum, where the race was starting to register.

Once registered, we headed back to the car to pin our bibs on, get our stuff ready and did a mile warm-up at a 9-minute pace just to warm up. When we lined up I wasn't feeling a victory but was secretly hoping to place at least in my age group. I lined up in front and tried to fight my desire to take off too fast at the start as I have a tendency to do. My first mile was a wee bit fast at 6:45 but reasonable. For a little bit I thought I was second place female as I had passed one female and only saw one more ahead. Not the case. We hit the turn-around since it was an out and back and I realized I was in third. Still third overall is good I will take it! So the trick was just to hold onto it, which is always easier said than done. I bonked a little around mile 2.5 and stopped for a few seconds. I thought to myself you had better get moving again because if you loose third because you are a sissy and walk that is not cool. So off I went. The course was a little hilly so it wasn't the easiest 5k ever but that just makes placing even sweeter.

I came in third with a time of 22:33 (not a PR but a good time for me now). Second place female was 21:34 - about a minute ahead. Also almost ten years younger ;) First place female was 19:19. Not bad for early season. As you can see from my smile I was happy to place. A special thank you to my my sponsors especially Swiftwick for keeping my feet happy and PowerBar Team Elite for fueling my workouts and of course Rev3 Triathlon and my Team Rev3 teammates for all the support! You guys are awesome!

Steve was 11th overall to my 21 and placed third in his age group with a time of 20:03. All in all we were happy with the result. Especially since we have not been doing speed and have been focusing on longer endurance runs and also lots of biking and swimming.

After the race we ran another eight to make our goal for the week. Next up is a half marathon in a couple weeks. Hoping to have another PR and who knows if I am lucky maybe I will place again. Watch for the race report in a few weeks.

Mentor Flag Day 5K - Easier Said Than Done

My friends and loved will know this about me...that I sometimes have unreasonable expectations of myself when it comes to racing. They accept that about me because I have been known to throw a temper tantrum after a bad race (I'm working on this). The Mentor Flag Day 5K was one of these instances. It was a last minute decision to sign up and I wasn't really trained. I know what you're thinking...train for a 5K...who needs to do that? It should be easy right? That is what I thought too! Considering I had just started running again two weeks before and hadn't run more than 2 miles I somehow did not think I would stand the chance of bombing this race. In fact, I thought I might even be able to win if the super fast chicks stayed home. I thought I could pull out a 21 or 22 minutes easy. I thought wrong.

The race starts downhill and I mean downhill! So my first mile was 6:03! Just a wee bit more than the 6:45 I was aiming for. So by mile 2 I was pooped out and took a little break. Back to it and holy crap was it hot and hilly that last mile. Clearly I had underestimated this little 5K. I walked a couple more times that last mile and figure I easily lost 2+ minutes because of it. I was not a happy girl at the finish when I looked up and saw 23:57. Yuck! Not a bad time really but I was certainly capable of the 21 or 22 I had hoped for had my race went better. So I was mad and wanting to leave.

Steve on the other hand had a great race of 19:36...a personal best for him. I didn't think there was anyway I would place but thought he might so we stuck around for the rewards, which took a while. He placed third in his age group and amazingly I took first in my age group. The winning female times were 20-22 minute range. So while I should've been happy I even placed I was mad at myself for having a bad race. This is just me. I knew I could have done better.

Another one in the books. Lesson learned. The training continues and I hope to get my endurance back soon and to learn to be a little easier on myself.