=PR= Race Series: Run with Dad (minus the dad) 5K Recap

I've known for a few weeks that I had a 5K PR waiting inside of my, but needed to get a race to find it. This weekend Tom and I each ran in the =PR= Run with Dad 5K at South Lakes high school. I woke up that day not as excited to run it as I was to run the 10K a few weeks ago. The 5K isn't my most favorite race. But fortunately, I didn't let that hinder me and was able to finish with a new PR for the day.

We arrived around 7 to get our bib and then went on our own ways to warm up. It's funny - people often ask if we run together. The answer is rarely. Tom's so much faster than I am, and I am so stuck in my ways. I warm up the same way each time and begin to freak out when it starts to go differently. I am so independent and need freedom to go on my own.

I felt great on the warm up: I got in 14 minutes of running before drills, and knew my body felt awake and ready. We met up again on the starting line, 5 minutes before the race, and found ourselves starting a little bit back. Everyone was ready to go and lined up before we had gotten there and it seemed impossible to get up front.

The start was a little chaotic. We ran 300m on the track at the high school before veering off and into the woods. It was slow, and there were a ton of people in front of us that didn't need to be right on the starting line. I jumped up with other PR running ladies, recognizing a few and knowing I wanted to be with them for the start.

I ran my first 10K last year at this school and was expecting to run a course very similar and was surprised to find us going onto the bike path in the woods. Rather than the open roads with little turning, we found hairpin turn after hairpin turn, as well as a constant variation in elevation. Instead of focusing on my body and on my pace I was constantly worrying about the people around me, making sure I didn't take a face plant as I turned a corner, and mentally battling how the course reminded me of some high school and college courses I had run.

There was a lot of passing during the first mile. Being a Father's day run, there were a lot of younger kids and teenagers that were running. These runners also went out with a very nice mile split, only to drop off in the second mile. I kept my sites on another PR team member right in front of me, not knowing who she was, but recognizing that she was a strong runner. My goal was to stay with her as long as possible. Little did I realize that she was definitely the first place woman of the race.

Mile 1: 5:56

Good. I met my goal mark for the first mile. Last year this split would have freaked me out completely. However, after hitting sub 5:50's on runs in the spring, I knew this was OK. My only problem came with keeping this momentum in mile 2, my weakest mile. This was the mile I struggled the most in trying to stay in the present, rather than having flash backs to races in college when we ran a similar course at St. Mike's. 

Mile 2: 6:22

As I passed the marker and saw 12:18, I knew I had slowed, but couldn't do the math in my head. At this point, I was strictly running on feeling. I had only looked down at my watch twice. I knew if I wanted to break 19:00 that it would be close. So I tried to push harder. 

5Ks, while much shorter than a marathon, take much more focus and a higher pain tolerance. They also require that the runner do some actual SPEED workouts before racing. I haven't done speed in weeks. 

Everything was going great until I came out of the woods for the last time. I had just over a quarter of a mile left to run and made the mistake of looking down at my watch as I went up a hill. In that instance I began to dry heave. Ugh, not this again. I held it in, and kept up the pace. But it happened again. I had no choice but to slow down for a few seconds to stop it. Slowing worked, but my momentum was gone. While I love that there was a camera crew at this race to take free race photos, I hated that they would have been able to catch my lowest moment on film. I was also not ready to loose my breakfast while on the track, now knowing that I was the second place female after a man yelled it in the woods.

As I turned the corner I heard my name being called by the MC, then heard Tom's voice as he cheered me on. He knew my goal was low 19's, and based on his voice, I knew that I had to work hard to get there. 

Final Time: 19:18

New PR

Second place female

I'll take that PR, but I'm not done. As soon as I finished I was ready to sign up for another, faster race! I need to break 19. I never thought I would have that as my goal, but I know it's in me. I just need to get on a track for a few weeks.

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I have been enjoying the opportunities that the PR Race team has given me this spring. I love being more involved in races and feeling like there is a purpose to my training. It's also been great to meet other runners on the team. A few of us went for a cool down run afterward and we discovered that two of us had lived in Vermont and had competed against the same runners in high school!

This race was also put on by PR Running. For the runners, there is a ton to offer: awesome tech t-shirts with registration, a lunchbox (for Father's day), a master of ceremony that was made for the job and makes it fun, food at the finish line, and terrific prizes that include gift certificates to be used at their store. I got $75 for second place, which means I can pick up some nice sneaks in a few weeks!

2014 Capitol Hill Classic 10K

Back in the middle of May, a bunch of teachers from my school, parents, and students partook in the Capitol Hill Classic which consisted of a 10k and a 3k race. I had a major goal for this race and was confident that I could do it: Break 40:00 in the 10k. Better yet - break 39:00. I knew I could do this, but had not had good training after Boston (hello 14 hour work days!). I was also very stupid in the middle of the race and never actually looked at my overall time on my watch to see how I was doing. Lesson learned.

Final Time: 40:05

3rd Female

The race morning was PERFECT.  It was in the 50's, sunny, and had no humidity. There was a breeze that felt great on the course, but was enough to force me to draft behind guys a few times. The 8:30 start let us sleep in and enjoy the morning a little before racing, and nutritionally I was set for the race because of the later start.

Tom and I were both running and we knew we had a good chance of placing based off of last year's results. The gun went off and 3 women immediately flew past me. One, a red-head, was a girl I remember seeing at the Cherry Blossom in April. I had some sort of feeling/memory of passing her during that race, so I was not worried about her speeding off at the start. My thinking: let her get tired, then I can reel her in.

The start took us by the Capitol and Supreme Court. I just love the races in DC because of the monuments we run by!

The first three miles flew by but my Garmin beeped about 0.1 to 0.2 miles before I actually got to the mile markers. I don't know why it wasn't lined up with the markers, but I should have really taken that into account for the rest of the race and checked my watch a few more times.

Miles 1-3

6:06, 6:09, 6:12

I felt confident and satisfied with those mileage times. I was also surprised to see 19:07 when I went through the 5K. My current, official PR in the 5K was a 19:41, which means I knocked off a significant chunk and need to get into an actual 5K in the coming weeks. 

By mile 3 we were in the middle of nowhere, or so it felt. The beautiful homes, green streets, and shade that we had in the first half of the race was replaced with concrete, sun, and the parking lot surrounding the old stadium in DC. It felt like a desert, because we were the only ones out there.

As I was thinking how horrible of a place it was, a girl in purple FLEW by me. Where did she come from?! Her speed told me that she knew what she was doing and I was not going to catch her. I fell from 4th to 5th.

The fourth mile marker came: 6:29. Uh oh!  

I knew I had slowed. But by that much?! Fortunately, I spotted the red-head in red. My mission became to catch her, and I was getting close. I got her before the 5th mile, and felt confident that my race to get her meant I picked up the pace.

Mile 5: 6:36

Oh no! This was not going the way I wanted it to, but I didn't dwell too hard on it. I actually felt fine and I was working at a hard effort. I had to keep reminding myself that it was only my 2nd 10k and I hadn't run one this fast before.

Now that I was in 4th I began getting closer to the 3rd place woman. At the same time, I kept playing cat and mouse with a man near me. It was good, as we kept pushing each other to get closer to this girl. 

At around 5.5 I had a decision to make. I had never taken on someone like this in a race. I could keep going this speed and pass this 3rd place woman, and then hold on for the rest of the race. Or, I could play it safe, draft off of her, and then hopefully take her at the end. She knew I was coming, and I couldn't tell if she'd let me pass, only to pass me again and squash my mental game. Also, passing her would mean that I'd have to be on my game for the rest of the race, pushing myself to ensure she couldn't come back. Did I really want to do that?

Yes. I did. I wanted a PR. I knew that to get the PR I needed to get around her. If it had been a man I would have had no problem in my mind making this decision. He wouldn't have stood out. But to take the 3rd place female spot, scared me. I knew it. So I took her. And I kept running. I didn't want to look back. I also felt like I was going to vomit - a reaction that I need to control if I want to get faster.

My spring motto that I have to remind myself in each race: Running fast isn't easy. You have to work for fast times.  

Mile 6: 6:22

Tom was around mile 6 cheering on runners, having already finished 10th overall. I knew I was close to the end, but hadn't look at my watch time and didn't realize HOW CLOSE I WAS to breaking 40. When I turned the very last corner and saw 39:57 on the official clock I screamed in my mind. OMG.... how could I be that oblivious to the time? How could I have been that close to a 39:xx and not realize it?!

I passed the line at 40:05. It was a minute and a half PR, but didn't feel great because I knew I can do better. 

 We stayed to watch the 3K, which had a ton of our students running in it. I didn't realize how big of an event this was. It raised over $80,000 for a school in DC! Talk about a successful fundraiser!

It was a good race (minus the desert) and was a fun morning to spend with co-workers and students. This race also showed me that I need to get signed up for a 5K soon so I can really see what I have in me for that distance!