I started with a 2.21 warm up. I was running with a couple of kids, so we were running faster to start out with, but it wasn't a difficult pace--I could still carry on a conversation. That makes me wonder if I should try to keep my easy pace closer to 9 min, but I think I should probably just go by feel. Anyway, the kids didn't want to run as much as I did, so I left them after about 1.5, when they turned back to go towards the start. I conned a kid into starting with me. I wanted to have some incentive, you know, to save face if I felt like I was going to fall behind. Actually, he ended up eating my dust after about 1.5 miles. Apparently he's out of shape. So I have bittersweet feelings about this race. My time was 22:08, which is a PR. But I had sorta hoped that I would break into the 21s, and I can pinpoint the exact 1/2 mile where I lost my mojo. The start was 11 minutes late. That was kinda annoying because I had pretty much lost my heat. I took off my outer layer and left it in the car, and that would have been fine if I had started on time.
We started off fast, but it felt good. The first mile was 6:49, which was probably too fast. (But I struggle in small races where I don't have much time to warm up-- I just start fast because I don't really feel like I have time in a 5K to work into a progressively faster race. I could be wrong, though. Maybe I should try next time to start slower). Second mile, where I ditched my racing partner, was 7:15. I started to flag right before the end of this mile and then struggled into the third mile. Third mile was 7:24. Last .11 was 7:12. I wish I could have gone faster on that last bit--maybe I could have dropped at least a few of the 8 seconds. Then I did 2.13 to cool down, but I did the course backwards and stopped for about 30 seconds to chit chat with the water table people while I took the water that I shunned on the way over the first time. I didn't stick around for results, but one of the kids brought my age division medal--2nd place. I don't know my official time, but if it's any different I'll update my entry
I have been sneezing pretty much since then. I think that the air is pretty dry--that's probably why. So, to sum up: I'm happy with my performance, but would have been ecstatic if I had just finished 9 seconds earlier. Update: My official time was listed at 22:07 and I was the 7th female out of a little over 100.
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