It's 8:16 PM and I just got home from my race. What a crappy day for a race, too! It's been SUPER foggy and raining all day. I suckered Renee and Alicia into doing the race with me, so they came to my house at 5:30 and I drove us to the race.
I was shocked at how many people were there! I thought this was going to be a small race of about 50 people or so, but there were probably more like 500 people. We got our sweatshirts, glow necklaces(!!) and timing tags for our shoes and then we went to get in line for the bathroom--there was a really long line, and only ONE stall. I decided I could hold it, so I went back to the car to drop off my shirt.
Jerry got out of work at 6:00, and the race was starting at 6:30, so he actually came to watch me (despite the fact that it was raining). I had him take a picture of us before the race, but it was so foggy that the fog showed up as white droplets on the picture:
I tried to get a picture of the back of my shirt, but that didn't work out so well...
We got in the starting line and before I knew it, the race started and we were off. It got dark right at the start of the race, so we were running in the dark the whole time. It was kind of cool (but kind of not cool at the same time). It was still drizzling rain, and there were puddles that we couldn't see until we stepped in them.
The first mile went by pretty quickly, but I felt like I was running faster than I actually was. And then the second mile seemed to take FOREVER, probably because I knew that I wasn't even halfway done. I wasn't hoping for an unrealistic time, but in the back of my mind I was thinking I'd like to finish sub-36:00, which would be 8:59/mi or faster.
My feet were completely soaked by mile three. At about 2.5 miles in, there was an out-and-back part of the route...
I love the out-and-back routes, because you can see the people who are ahead of you when they are running toward you. I was looking for Renee and Alicia (both faster than me) but it was too dark and I couldn't see anything!
That last mile seemed really long because I was trying to pick up speed, but I just didn't have it in me. When I saw my time, I knew that my sub-26:00 5K goal for next weekend is no longer a possibility. My "unofficial" time stats:
I finished in 35:17, so I was happy with that. But with an 8:54 pace, I really have doubts about running an 8:20 pace for my 5k. But judging by my heart rate today, I think I pushed myself pretty hard.
And a post-race photo (not that it's much different from the pre-race photo!):
Well, I knocked one race off my list of six in the next 12 weeks ;) Oh, and I got my sweatshirt (which, I admit, was the whole reason that I registered for this race!)
Now, I'm going to eat some graham crackers with peanut butter and chocolate chips before bed.
ETA: I got the official race results...
Chip time: 35:15 (8:49/mi pace)
Overall place: 149/394
Age group: 8/33
I was shocked at how many people were there! I thought this was going to be a small race of about 50 people or so, but there were probably more like 500 people. We got our sweatshirts, glow necklaces(!!) and timing tags for our shoes and then we went to get in line for the bathroom--there was a really long line, and only ONE stall. I decided I could hold it, so I went back to the car to drop off my shirt.
Jerry got out of work at 6:00, and the race was starting at 6:30, so he actually came to watch me (despite the fact that it was raining). I had him take a picture of us before the race, but it was so foggy that the fog showed up as white droplets on the picture:
Me, Alicia, and Renee |
We got in the starting line and before I knew it, the race started and we were off. It got dark right at the start of the race, so we were running in the dark the whole time. It was kind of cool (but kind of not cool at the same time). It was still drizzling rain, and there were puddles that we couldn't see until we stepped in them.
The first mile went by pretty quickly, but I felt like I was running faster than I actually was. And then the second mile seemed to take FOREVER, probably because I knew that I wasn't even halfway done. I wasn't hoping for an unrealistic time, but in the back of my mind I was thinking I'd like to finish sub-36:00, which would be 8:59/mi or faster.
My feet were completely soaked by mile three. At about 2.5 miles in, there was an out-and-back part of the route...
I love the out-and-back routes, because you can see the people who are ahead of you when they are running toward you. I was looking for Renee and Alicia (both faster than me) but it was too dark and I couldn't see anything!
That last mile seemed really long because I was trying to pick up speed, but I just didn't have it in me. When I saw my time, I knew that my sub-26:00 5K goal for next weekend is no longer a possibility. My "unofficial" time stats:
I finished in 35:17, so I was happy with that. But with an 8:54 pace, I really have doubts about running an 8:20 pace for my 5k. But judging by my heart rate today, I think I pushed myself pretty hard.
And a post-race photo (not that it's much different from the pre-race photo!):
Well, I knocked one race off my list of six in the next 12 weeks ;) Oh, and I got my sweatshirt (which, I admit, was the whole reason that I registered for this race!)
Now, I'm going to eat some graham crackers with peanut butter and chocolate chips before bed.
ETA: I got the official race results...
Chip time: 35:15 (8:49/mi pace)
Overall place: 149/394
Age group: 8/33