Woo-Hoo!!!
I've dreamed about this moment for a WHOLE STINKING YEAR! I've visualized it hundreds of times, hoped, prayed, and hungered...all for this day. THIS is the race where I squashed my high school 5K pr of 23:58 with room to spare. Feels insanely good to trump my high school self--I was such a punk! It was time to bring me DOWN! (I need therapy, I know.) 1 minute and 3 seconds faster than my old-lady pr of 24:40 set just a couple of months ago.
I started with a nice 2 mile warm-up and a ridiculous number of potty stops. As I was warming up at 10:30 pace, I was thinking, 'Man, this feels hard. Can I really run 3 min. a mile faster than this?!?' It was a staggered start. The oldest ladies started first, followed by the 80 year-old guys. Then the 70 year-olds etc. I met up with Shauna, and was having such a great time talking to her (she is such a sweetie) that we totally missed our start time. Whoops! We ended up taking off with the fast dudes. This was a really big race for a 5k, and there was a pretty narrow road to run on. So WEAVING was the name of the game. How can I get past this 5 year-old running with his grandma--without bumping into Mr. Football fan over here? You expect weaving for the first .5 or so in any race, but I was STILL in major weave-central at 2 miles. It was actually a really good mental exercise for me. Usually I hate passing people. This time I had no choice. I passed someone every 2-5 seconds the whole race! I would estimate that I passed over 100 people, and I only got passed by 1 that I can remember. So, major success in the roadkill department today. (Never mind that many of them were octagenarians, but anyway.)
7:37 for the first mile. The first .3 miles were rolling hills with a net uphill. I wanted to quit after .8 (he he).
7:36 for the second mile. This is when I started to see that I could really break the record. Traditionally the 2nd mile is my slowest. I was like, "what? I didn't slow down? How'd THAT happen?"
7:30 I honestly have no clue how this mile wasn't slower. There was some downhill the last .2 of this mile (it was an out-and back course), so I suppose that helped. Sasha taught me how to do downhill when I did the Provo City Half, and I consider it a strength now.
:54 sec. for the .13 (7:00 pace) Right at the end my eyes started doing this funny thing--kind of like I had someone else's glasses on. Wrong prescription by just a little. And my eyes took just a little too long to open back up when I blinked. Weird.
I am happy to report that I really gave my all in this race. This is the worst I've felt after a 5k in quite some time. In the finish chute, you had to put your foot up on a step for a volunteer to take off the time chip, so I stumbled up and wavered on one foot while staring at the sky. But instead of taking off the chip, the guy just asked "do you need to sit down?" I saw why he was deliberating--I had put up the wrong foot. *Blush* Overall a great race and a great experience.
I have to thank everyone on the blog for helping me get to this point. I never reached my potential in high school because I had no concept of how long it takes for the aerobic development to peak. I'd only run during the cross country season and track season. In between I'd just hang out and get slow. I've learned so much from all the fabulous runners on this blog, and especially Sasha, with his pointed advice. In the last year I've taken 4 min. off my 5K time. 4 more minutes would give me a really competitive time! (Ha ha). But I do know this: there is a 22:XX in my near future. Time to go get it!
PM ran a little with the boys. Had a hard time keeping up with my 5 year-old and I am not exaggerating!
