Monday, March 4, 2013

Point Bock 5 Miler Recap

What a freaking race you guys. 

The race was at noon on Saturday, and around 10:00am, all of my runner buddies, my husband and I piled into my faithful Judy Blue and drove about an hour to get to the race.

The drive was uneventful - lots of chattering and multiple simultaneous conversations gave an indication to how excited everyone was for the race.  We snagged a great parking spot, picked up our t-shirts and bibs, killed a little time, and headed to the start line. 

2,000 people were lined up to run the flat, out-and-back 5 mile course.  The weather was awesome - low 20s, a very gentle breeze, and sunny, blue skies.  Perfect. 

My previous 5 mile PR was set in November:  40:19, an 8:04 pace.  I knew I could get sub-40, but I wanted to just run as fast as I could and see what I ended up with.   My concrete goal was sub-38.

I lined up between the 7:00 and 8:00 minute mile pace groups, and the gun went off.  The first mile had a few turns, and lots of passing back and forth as people settled into their groove.

I didn't look at my Garmin until about a half mile in, and it said my average pace was somewhere in the 7:10s or 20s.  Seemed a little fast, and I worried about burning out later.  Instead of slowing down to a more conservative pace, I just stopped looking at the damn thing.

Mile 2 was great - I knew I was getting close to the turnaround, and I was so excited to see the fast guys pass us on their way to the finish, and to see all of my friends once I hit the turnaround. 

The speedy dudes passed, and I mananged a little yell and some clapping as they sped by. 

At the turnaround, I was still feeling pretty good, but the pace was definitely a harder effort than when I started.  I was at that point in the race where I was hyper-aware of tiny little inclines and the slightest headwind.  I get there every race, and it's right around that time that the tiny whiny lazy person in my head tries to persuade me to walk.  Or lie down. 

But soon, I got the burst of energy that I needed - in the form of red-faced, panting, familiar faces. Rachel first, then a blur of Alicia, Kathy, Matt, Sarah, my husband Nick, and Nikki.  We managed some out-of-breath greetings to each other and a couple of awkward high-fives, and soon I spied the mile 4 marker. 

I picked it up just a bit for the 5th mile, made the final turn towards the finish line, and finished strong in 37:07.

My splits, courtesy of my trusty 305:
 
Mile 1: 7:25
Mile 2: 7:19
Mile 3: 7:32
Mile 4: 7:28
Mile 5: 7:19 
 
And the overall stats:
 
 
Point Bock 5 Miler
F25-29
*** 37:07 ***
Overall: 233/1848
Div: 14/182
Sex: 42/940
 
 The two highlights of the race for me:
 
One, my negative split: 18:35 first half, 18:32 second half... just barely negative, but negative nonetheless!
 
Two, copious post-race beers with these running superstars:

Rachel, Sarah, me, Kathy, Lish
5 girls, 5 PRs, approximately a million beers. 
 

An added bonus:  Although I'm really excited the 16 hour track relay on June 21st, I've been pretty apathetic about training for it.  This race gave me all the running feel-goods I need to stop being so freaking lazy.
 


9 comments:

  1. Congrats on totally nailing your goal! So awesome!

    Sarah
    www.thinfluenced.com

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  2. Oh my gosh! You freaking rocked it!!! Awesome!!!

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  3. DAY-UM! Seriously, that is an amazing time. Nice job!

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  4. I don't know how you managed to spot all of us when you were speeding by!!

    So happy you got your mojo back!

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  5. Time to update your 5 miles PR on the left there. Woot! SO proud of you!

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  6. Damn, we make drunken, post-race partying look good.

    You are my running idol. :)

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  7. Wow, so speedy! Congrats to all of you ladies on new PR's!

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  8. I get no shout out? I cheered at you! :)

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  9. Great scott you are a speedy lil' fox! Nice job and way to push it! I've found looking at my garmin totally undermines my confidence so I'm working on breaking my attachment to it while running. Afterwards, I go back to my normal garmin-obsessed self!

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Hearing from you makes me happy! :)

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