Race Report
Today I ran the Run Like Hell 5K. It was my first race since my Half Marathon in May – and the big test on how well I’d recovered since my knee injury.
My goal was to finish in under 30 minutes – something that wouldn’t have been too difficult 5 months ago – but that I knew would be a stretch today.
My first mile wasn’t as fast as I thought – possibly because I spent so much time trying to pass walkers & slower runners. I also started out very annoyed. Seriously people – if you’re walking a race, don’t stand at the beginning of the chute – that’s for runners. Dumbasses.
Anyways – I was almost to mile 1 when I saw the 5K leader headed back. He’d been running for maybe 10 minutes tops at that point.
The second mile was great – it was fast & flat.
Just after passing the 2-mile marker, I heard someone yell my name. I looked over & it was one of my Monday-night workout partners! I hadn’t seen her since July 4 when I pulled my hamstring. We ran together for a bit, and then I pulled out in front of her.
The last mile was going well until the last 1/4 mile. The last 1/4 mile was a slight incline – which shouldn’t have been a problem. But since starting knee-hab, I have been doing only very, very flat runs – no incline. I’m hoping that I can start hill running again soon, because that used to be my strength.
My friend passed me in that last 1/4 mile and finished slightly ahead of me.
My final time, according to my Garmin, was 31:09.
Splits:
Mile 1: 10:22
Mile 2: 10:13
Mile 3.1: 10:33
For some reason, the Garmin, which had gotten up to 2.6 miles retracted its statement & went back 1/2 mile – I’m not sure what happened there, but it said I only ran 2.5 miles. Which is both weird & lame (especially since I saw it roll back the mileage).
According to Garmin, my average pace was 12:14. However, since I know that can’t be so, I think I’ll stick with 10:01 pace. Not bad, really.
The last 5K I ran my time was 38:11, with a pace of 12:35. That race was in March 2007. So, in a year & a half, I’ve improved my overall time just over 7 minutes & my pace over 2 1/2 minutes! Good enough for a PR – and good enough for me!
Next time I do a 5K, I know I can come in under 30 – and now I have something to shoot for. Also – I need to get back to my hills!
Congrats to everyone else out there who raced this weekend!
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