Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Thoughts on the Cinco de Miles 5k

I've written a fair amount of blogs posts in the last couple of months, but haven't published any of them! This post is from back at the beginning of May....

Last Sunday I ran a 5k in Bedford, New Hampshire, right outside Manchester. It was a beautiful sunny day. I looked forward to running a race and not freezing!

Because we were flying to Nashville that afternoon I had to drop the dogs off at Diane's before heading to the starting line. As always the minute we pulled off the highway they were on high alert. They know where they are going, and they can't wait! I drop them off at Westie Camp, and they don't even say goodbye. It's such a good feeling to know they are happy and well cared for while we are gone.

I was so very pleased with my time, and my place in my age group for this race. I finished in 30:18. Now hush all you young runners, because this was good enough for 3rd out of 26 women in the F60-69 division. I missed 2nd place by less than 30 seconds, and at least the first 15 places were under 33 minutes so the competition was decent. Only the winner finished in a time that is completely out of my reach (26 minutes).

Once again I was able to confirm that my times In a 5k are better if I walk for 15 seconds every .5 miles. This was a hilly race, which works to my advantage on the downhills I think. I worked to maintain my pace on the uphills, and booked it to a reasonable amount on the downhills, especially the last one. This was also a crowded race. Over 2,000 people finished and the course never thinned out. I passed lots and lots of people all along the course which just tells me that way too many people under estimated their finishing times. I also decided to walk a little extra on some of the uphill because I probably wasn't running them much faster than I could walk them! But I only walked for a count of 10-15 steps at a time.

I liked this race. Although I'm still not crazy about 5ks, I trained properly for this race and I was ready for it. My nutrition beforehand was fine. Eating 3 hours before the start works. I could still hydrate more the day before but that's a work in progress. And DANG! I should have worn a short sleeved shirt! It really warmed up quickly. At least use your arm sleeves Lynn! That's what they're for!

One strange thing that happened as the race began. I put my phone in the stretchy clip on belt I use when racing and the zipper broke! Oh well...I bought it at the Marine Corp Marathon so it was three years old. Still...no race selfies for me. I had to tear open the zipper to open the phone pouch at the end of the race, so I just threw it away. It's okay, I have another one!

I would do this race again, even if I'm recovering from Boston next year. Maybe next year I'll be able to stay for the after party! Free beer and margaritas and pizza!

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