Race at Fort Worth Zoo this morning at 7:00am. Weather=50F, 65% humidity, 8mph wind, sunny. Average pace=7:43/m.
mile 1- 7:56
mile 2- 7:55
mile 3- 7:51
mile 4- 7:52
mile 5- 7:49
mile 6- 7:09
final .26- 6:36 pace
This was a huge race. There were thousands of people. They said a thousand more than last year. I was told it took 10 minutes to get everyone across the starting line in the 10k and even longer in the 5k.
I started this race with a bang. Within the first 15 seconds of crossing the starting line a teenage boy plowed through the crowd elbowing people out of his way. My friends Ashley and Wendy were behind me and he pushed them and they yelled at him. Then he came up on me and elbowed me. I lost my balance and skidded into the street. I skinned my right knee, left hip, both hands. My hands were especially bad. It hurt. I was kinda confused but I got up and kept running. Ashley and Wendy saw it happen and were trying to help me but I told them to go ahead, don't let it ruin their race.
For the first mile I was really shook up and my hands hurt. I felt like crying for a minute or two. I got behind Wendy and Ashley and I started loosing sight of them through the twists and turns in the zoo. I realized that thinking negative was going to make this race suck. I need to buck up and quit complaining. This fall was going to make me that much more proud for finishing this race. So I decided to block the pain and focus.
I caught up to Ashley at 1.5 miles but I never saw Wendy again. I fell in behind this girl that I recognized from another race. She was extremely muscular. I've never seen any girl with bigger calf muscles. I just followed her because she was going a pace that felt comfortable to me at the time. There was another girl running along side her in pink. Another girl kept surging past us and then falling behind us.
The course is very hilly in the first 5 miles. The 6th mile was mostly downhill. The final .25 mile was flat. I coasted along those 5 miles. I noticed that I started picking people off in the 5th mile. There were several people who were getting tired from the hills I guess. I knew that downhill was coming though so I just hung on until then. As soon as my watch clicked mile 5, I opened it up.
I caught muscular calf girl, pink girl, about 4 guys, surge girl, and then I closed in on two girls ahead of me with less than a hundred yards left. They sensed me coming up on them and speeded up. I almost gave up but found another gear at the last minute. I passed one but was about 1 second behind the other one when we crossed the finish. My running store was announcing the race and I could hear my friend James on the microphone saying, "Great kick, Lindsey!"
Wendy ended up finishing 2 minutes ahead of me. Ashley was about 1 minute behind me. There were several people from the running group standing around. Everyone was laughing at me for falling. I fall more than anyone else -by far! I don't know if it's bad luck or clumsiness.
So I guess I'm mostly happy with the race. It's bittersweet. I never got really in the zone in this race. I never felt really confident. I was just going through the motions of what I know works for me. I don't know if this was because I'm out of shape or because of the fall at the beginning. Last year I ran this race in 45 minutes (7:16/m) and this year it was 48 minutes (7:43/m). I guess that's not too far off. I'm happy with my final kick at the end.
On a side note: we watched the 5k finish and there was a guy that crossed at 14:55. He looked so fast! It was exciting to watch! The final people had just crossed the start line and he was finishing already. | 