Sunday, April 28, 2013

Run, Run, Run

Saturday was the first "organized" run since the half marathon and my first 5K since Butterflies for Hope at the end of May.  I had been keeping an eye on the weather throughout the week because they were calling for an 75% chance of rain this morning at race time.  It rained through the night but thankfully there was no rain falling for the 8 a.m. start time. The race was an annual race as part of the Dogwood Arts Festival that takes place every spring here in Knoxville.  This particular route took us on a route that I am familiar with- it's one that I ran many times while prepping for the half marathon and where I have been doing some of my running since then.

Source: indulgy.com via Jacque on Pinterest


I ran this route on Monday afternoon in preparation and did the full course in right at 35 minutes.  My recent 5K times have been running anywhere from 35-36 in actual runs and my practice/training runs have been about 37-38.  So, having that practice at 35 was a good thing since I actually do better in actual races.

The gun goes off and we head out- all 450 runners.  I will admit that I walked about a total of a minute as I drank some water through the course.  It was a good course- inclines but not too bad, beautiful views of the river and the dogwoods (although I was thankful for the rain/dampness because it helped ease the sneezing a lot).  I hit the three mile mark and my friend was standing there- she yelled out that I could see the finish and I needed to sprint to the end.  I just glared at her but then gave it all I had and pushed through.  My phone's gps had the time at 34:18 and I knew I had started it right when the gun had gone off- but until the official results were posted I didn't know if I had met my goal of 34:00.  My previous PR had been 34:00 even back in December.  Then I had ITB issues and slowed down.  Since a little before the half my issues have eased up so have tried picking up the pace a little bit.  When the official results were posted I was so excited!  I did it!  I hit 33:54 so I cut 6 seconds off of my time- not a huge amount but I was happy with it!  A friend on FB posted the following and it says it perfectly!


ETA: Just found out that my previous PR was 33:39 which means I did not PR this one- I apparently had looked only at gun time and not chip time.  Bummer :(

3 comments:

Bill (cycleguy) said...

It's not the time; it's that you finished. You finished well and that is what counts. Proud of you.

Tami Grandi said...

I know and I know that I finished under my goal and that is what matters to me! Just was a little bit of a bummer.

Anonymous said...

That friend of yours is awesome for yelling at you!!! Hey girl we have another race this weekend and you can PR this one!!!!

Don't be bummed it was that warm up walk that threw you all off.....;)