The Race Report

We're home from the race and it was a blast! I didn't realize it is a 24 year old race.

Weather was sunny, felt warm and about 60 degrees.
We we got there at 9:45 a.m. and the 10 Mile race was to start at 10:00, while the 5K (my event) was on tap for 10:15. Plenty of time, or so I thought. By the time I got my number and visited the port-o-potty, it was 10:00. So I got on with my merry warm up jog and as I jog by the starting area I hear everyone yelling, "The races start together, LET'S GO!" What??? Oh crap, I don't even have my number pinned on me yet! I ran over to my husband, grabbed my number and he helped me pin it on and then ran over to the starting area and squeezed in between some high school cross country runners.

My total warm up time was about 3 minutes long. Not good, especially after sitting in a car for almost 2 hours.

After falling into the start line crowd, we ended up waiting until 10:15 for the race to start! I could've kept warming up.

Gun goes off and it's a crowded start. I was able to get into a good position and go. I felt the lack of warm up at about :45 into the race. The lactic acid started to creep through my body from neck to ankles.

I slowed down just to get my energy back and it helped. The first half of the 5K was nice and flat with a downhill elevation. What I failed to consider was at the turnaround, I would have to go back on a slight uphill.

Mile 1: 6:48. It felt good after slowing down in the beginning. I felt strong.

Turnaround: 10:45. Sweet, almost over! Less than 2 miles to go.

Mile 2: (No idea what my split time was). I was starting to feel fatigued, maybe from the slight uphill elevation.

Somewhere around the last half mile, a hill appeared out of nowhere! I looked at it and thought, "Oh crap. A hill." I wish I had known. It was about 1/4 mile long and I attacked it the best I could. I got to the top sucking wind and never got my breath back. I think I jogged the last part of the race to the finish.

Gun Time: 22:25
Watch Time: 22:20
I'm pretty happy overall because my average pace per mile was 7:12. I've never run that fast in a race as an adult. This was my first official 5K since high school.

They actually had chip timing but we won't know the official time for a day or two or three.

THE GOOD NEWS: I came in 1st in my age group - 30-39.
The female ahead of me was a 17 year old cross country runner, and as I saw her run by me after she hit the turnaround I knew I wouldn't catch her.

A beautiful city to race in. It's a California Mission city with lots of historic buildings. I'll do it again for sure.

Still gotta make my goal of a sub 22:00 5K. I'll do it this year!
TOTAL MILES: 3.1