Truth be told, I also know that once the Capitol Mile training is over and I am strictly focusing on marathon training, there will be no more 5ks on my plate. So, even if I'd be a little slow, I wanted to get the speedier workout in.
Unfortunately, yesterday my stomach was not particularly happy. When I woke up this morning, it was REALLY REALLY unhappy. Great. So I went into my son James' room and stirred him. I told him I was ailing and asked him if he wanted to sleep in or 5k it this morning. After some discussion, we decided just to get going and do it - we were awake anyway.
Jake said he did not want to do it. He said his last 5ks have been really hard. In reality, the kid puts a lot of pressure on himself because he wants to be as fast as his brother, but he isn't. However, he is a lot faster than his brother was at his age and he rocks them. Plus, 5ks are just plain hard. So, he should cut himself some slack. I told him all that, but he still said he was out. He'd hang with dad (who is still injured). Okay. The good news is that once we got to the race he changed his mind (yay!). Team Giftos was 3 strong for the morning.
After registering, we also quickly discovered it was truly a fun run. There were no bib numbers, no timing. Simply a clock at the finish. James wasn't real pleased about that, but it actually took a little pressure off of me since I was feeling so crummy.
It was about 78 degrees with 80+% humidity. It had been overcast all morning, but the sun came out just in time for the race.
Once the race started, I took off ready to roll. If my stomach slowed me down, so be it, but I was certainly going to put it out of my mind and run hard. It isn't a true problem until it is, right?
The start was a 3/4 loop around the track before we turned onto the streets. As I exited the track, I was the first female. That did not last long. Shortly thereafter, a girl and James both passed me. I looked at my watch and saw I was at a 6:40 pace, so I slowed up a bit, but still stuck with the girl that passed me. Just before mile 1, another girl passed me. She and the first girl took up the path in front of me and slowed down a touch. No way. So I made my move and passed them. This was ultimately a great idea because it kept me incredibly motivated throughout the rest of the race.
It was warm, humid and sunny, but I noticed that I was not completely suffering. Clearly I am much more acclimated to the heat than I was a month ago. Around mile 1.5, we had a very steep hill to climb. My pace slowed substantially, but I was not going to blow up going up it. And I figured if one of the girls behind me tried to pass me on the hill, she'd probably toast herself, so I was not concerned.
After I passed mile 2, I was hurting as you do in the 5k, but was still determined not to get passed. Unfortunately, my tummy troubles kicked in HARD and I was afraid I'd be forced to stop and walk. Wouldn't that suck being in first place position and then stopping? Gah. I slowed down a tiny bit and kept telling myself only a half mile to go.
Unfortunately, the course ended up being really long. Like more than .3 long.* Not cool. Just after mile 3, there was a longish hill that took us back to the high school and then we were back on the track for about 300 meters. I actually felt very comfortable on the track after the last few track workouts and kicked it into another gear. I crossed the finish as the first place female with a time of 24:01. [Had the course been correct, I am guessing I'd have been 21:4x].
I'll take it. Both of the girls that I jockeyed with in the beginning were a good minute+ behind me, but I was so glad I did not know that during the race. One of them and I exchanged a friendly high-five and "good job" post race - which is always nice.
James finished just behind them as second kid (another kid took him during the last 200 meters on the track), then Jake came blazing in around 4th or 5th kid. It was fun watching each of them round the track for the finish - both of them have beautiful strides.
After we all finished, we were soaking wet and hot, but thankfully there were sprinklers on and lots of cold water and gatorade. I was so glad we ended up deciding to race - tummy troubles and all. Not only did I get to run with my boys and take home a win, this run marked my 3rd speed workout for the week.
John took a ton of photos, but unfortunately he never noticed there was no memory card in my camera! Doh. But here is a quick pic he snapped this afternoon after my nap and before we jumped on our bikes to get celebratory ice cream!
No comments:
Post a Comment