5k PR!!

On Saturday I ran the Horsham Relay for Life 5k. This was my second 5k in 6 days and as of Friday evening I was a little worried about how it would go. I ran 15 miles on Thursday and while I felt great running, I'm not sure my legs are used to the longer distances yet. All day Thursday and even Friday my legs were so tired. Since I knew I wanted to race on Saturday, I took Friday off and rode the bike for an hour instead. Even that proved to be a little challenging and I just didn't have much in me. We had plans to head to the shore immediately after the race and I even toyed with the idea of bagging the race and getting an earlier start to the beach. It seemed like a good enough excuse since we were only going for an overnight but I knew I would be so pissed at myself if I didn't give it a shot.

So I woke up early on Saturday to pack us up so we'd be ready to go as soon as I got home and headed over to pick up my packet. After a little mile warm up my stomach started feeling funny. I wasn't nervous or anything but my stomach was really off. The race starts at a local high school track so there were actual bathrooms to use and it was nice to not have to squat in a scary port o' pot. My stomach was definitely not happy and I just hoped it could make it through 3 miles without any problems. Pooping myself at a 5k would be devastating.

When we lined up at the start, I was ready to get this over with. I found myself lining up right at the front and thought about how a few years ago I would have buried myself in the back of the pack. Times sure have changed. When the race started, I took off. I looked at my watch less than quarter mile in and I was running a 5:55. A what?? I didn't even know my legs could move that fast! I scared myself straight and quickly found where I wanted to be, finishing mile 1 at 6:59. I had 2 females in front of me and 2 on either side of me. Determined to actually earn my 3rd place finish this week, I managed to pull ahead of the 2 girls on a long, gradual incline. They didn't stand a chance against these thighs! ;-) I ran the 2nd mile at 7:09 and could see the second place female right in front of me. On our last two turns she looked back to see where I was and as hard as I tried, I just couldn't get to her. She bested me by 8 seconds but I gave that last mile my all and ran it at a 6:45.

As I headed to the finish with about a quarter mile to go, I knew if I hung on I would get that PR. I gave it everything I had and finished with a 21:30...20 seconds faster than my previous 5k PR!! I was hoping for a second or two so seeing 20 seconds off my time made my day! My lungs hurt like hell when I was done from the remnants of this cold I have and I couldn't stop coughing. I was also dizzy and had a really intense headache. 5ks are brutal! I stumbled over to the timing board and confirmed that I did come in 3rd overall female this time and won first in my age group! Unfortunately, I didn't get to stay for the awards since we had to get to the shore but they are mailing me my medal. It's probably better I didn't stay to pick it up, I was so happy I probably would have worn it all weekend while we were away.

21:30

1st in AG 30-39

3rd overall female

19th overall finisher