Wildrose Wildcat 5k Race Report

Yesterday, I ran my first post-injury 5k, and let me tell you, I was NERVOUS!!

I tossed and turned most of the night and was happy when my alarm finally went off at 5:30am.  I popped out of bed and into the shower.  I dressed in my favorite old crappy lucky running gear (who needs tech-tees when you've got three-packs of boys A-line tank tops?)

Had my breakfast of Gatorade and coffee while perusing the blogosphere for a few minutes, and then got my soccer mom mini-van all set for my fellow runners. 

Nikki, Matt, and Alicia pulled up at 6:20, and we headed out on the hour-long trek to Wild Rose. 

I ran this race last year with a painful, too-soon-post-partum 28:xx, and I was definitely hoping to redeem myself.  My plan was to go out fast-ish (under 8 minute miles), and see if I could hold on to that.

When we got there, it was hot and muggy, but thankfully there were patches of clouds that blocked the sun's relentless heat.   We all registered, hit the bathrooms, and warmed up.  In just a few minutes, the anthem was sung, and the announcer yelled "GO!"  (yeah, it's a small race).  :)

I took off down the country roads and felt really good - no pain in my leg, and was happy to glance down at my watch at the one mile marker to see 7:45.

We hit the turnaround point just before 1.5 miles, and I got to see Matt, Alicia, and Nikki as they were headed to the turnaround.  I LOVE being able to cheer for my buddies during a run, and I always give a shout-out to the leaders (especially the lady leader!)  Out-and-backs are my fav.

Surprisingly, there were only three women ahead of me, and no one ahead or behind me for at least a hundred yards.  I put on my tunes and kept a good pace up a long gradual incline (darnit for not noticing the descent on the way out). 

I kept glancing at my watch getting more and more disappointed as the time crawled into the 16s, then 17s.  Where was Mile 2?  Did I really slow down that much?  After a few more minutes, I relaxed and figured I'd missed the marker and went on my merry way.

A few minutes later, I could see the high school where the start/finish was, and I ran down the little path and through the gate onto the track for a 400m sprint to the finish.  I love track workouts, and I loved being able to finish this race on the track.

I finished in 24:16, by far the fastest I've run since I had my kids.  I felt good the whole way, and now I know a PR is within my reach... I'll be signing up for a fall 5k to blow my 23:17 PR out of the water!  :)

And it was good for 2nd in my age group!

Yay, medals!

Stats:

24:16
7:49/mile

4th overall female

2nd in 20-29 AG



Me, Nikki, Alicia, Matt... I don't know why I'm all hunched over....



Best part of the day - this woman came up to me afterwards and slapped me on the arm and said: "I am SO sick of looking at your butt!"  She was about 100 yards behind me the whole time and told me that I inspired her the whole race to keep going.... what an awesome thing to hear!  I always try to tell fellow racers what a great job they did or thank them for pulling me through... and it was great to hear it from someone.

 

Hope your weekends were fantastic!