Keep On Running Till The World Ends (Aka Race Recap)

   I had to use that in the title because Britney's "Till The World Ends" was the only song I listened to for my whole 5k this morning.  I had lots of great running songs on my playlist but I got into a groove with that one and didn't want to mess with it :D  I love how Nikki Minaj says, "Friiieeddd."


On to the deets:
    I decided a few days ago that I was itching to do a 5k, my last one was at the beginning of March and I didn't want to wait till my June 5th to do another.    I was using today's race mostly as a tempo workout since I've pushed myself really hard this week and I did workouts on Friday (stairs and bodyrock) that I would not normally do 2 days before a race. Being that I have high hopes for my race in 3 weeks,  I didn't want to skimp on my training just to run a decent time today, more of use today's race to help me get a sick time on June 5th :D

   Anywayss when I decided I wanted to run a 5k this weekend I hoped on Long Island Running and searched for the nearest 5k.  Score! Found a race 10 minutes from my house :)  I had no idea how big the race was going to be, but the fact that it had no online registration kinda tipped me off that it wouldn't be a huge race.

   I woke up this morning to rain and had a few second thoughts, especially since I hadn't registered yet, but I kinda enjoy running in the rain and the low 60's temp was perfect for racing.  So off I went, of course I had some nerves because even though I didn't put pressure on myself for a certain time, I knew I would be disappointed if I didn't run close to 21 flat.

   I arrived and quickly realized this race was going to be small.  I was a little early (wanted to make sure I could register), but this was not the typical race atmosphere, there was maybe 20 people scattered around and half of them were volunteers.   While registering I found out there were no bibs, no chips, they just handed you a card at the end of the race which you then brought to a table with your time.

  As I warmed up people started to file in, still not a large amount, but I was kind of enjoying the low key-ness of this race.  The race was held to raise money for Sarcoma and before the start a High Schooler who had survived sarcoma spoke and honored another woman in their community who was battling a relapse.  I got all teary eyed.

  On to the start (a few cones), we lined up, the director said go, and we were off :D  Two college runner boys took off straight to the front, I think the lead truck wasn't even moving fast enough for them.  I started out in around 6th place behind a few other guys.  And then, within 400 meters of the start, I was in 3rd.  I felt strong and had a great pace going, one that I felt I could hold without dying right at the start of the 2nd mile.  There were HS volunteers out on the roads directing, but I was still nervous about making a wrong turn as the lead truck and 2 lead boys were out of sight and I was leading the rest of the race.  I was pretty much on my own, although up until around the 3rd mile I had a guy hanging right behind me.

     Running truly is half mental because I've found that when I've got a strong lead in a race it just feels easier.  I'm not one to give a lot of details from each mile during the race, I am in my own world while racing and have difficulty recalling specific aspects of each mile.  What I do know is I felt strong and in control the whole race, my legs felt amazing and never tired (although my calves are feeling it now).  I didn't have a point (which I often do in 5ks) when I slowed up in the middle just to make it through (the fact that I was being chased by the pack 1 minute back may have helped :D) .  I would say it even felt easier than some of my past slower races.

  I wasn't sure of my mile splits, I figured it was right around the water tables and my stopwatch (I'm still afraid to wear my Garmin in a 5k, actually I think it would be a really bad idea for me) had me at around 6:40 miles.  Someone told me after that they had people reading mile splits but they weren't very noticeable or very loud (and I had music.)

Soooo the good stuff:
  3rd Overall (out of ?), 1st Female. . . 20:35 (6:37 pace) :D  25 second PR!
                                 and the best part

Winners got cookies and cash!

For a small race they sure didn't skimp on the awards ;)

Actually I'm happiest about my time and how amazing it felt, but the money is nice too :)

One of the best parts of today's race was that it helped me realize that, yes, 19:xx IS within my reach.

   Thank You all who have expressed this sentiment in recent comments, now I need to believe in myself, bust my boot-ay the next 2.5 weeks and get 'er done!

This was from last post, but it didn't post to most blog link lists, so repost of the race attiyah: