First Day 5k 2013

I talked my hubby and BF to run a 5k with me on New Year's Day. Lucky for them, it didn't start until 11:00 am. So we should have enough time to recover from the previous night's festivities.

I had no idea of a plan for this race. The 3 mile distance for the week was supposed to be sprints, so faster would be ideal. But how fast should I try. Now that I have been hit with a few PRs, I want to be careful to not aim for a new one every time I race. My last 5k was a PR at 25:40. Since I haven't run that fast in the last month, a new PR would be a challenge and I don't want to get hurt.

On the way there, hubby predicted 24 minutes to which I responded absolutely no way that would happen. It was in the mid 30s and the rain was holding, and the longer we waited, the more I bounced around.

I made my decision to run fast, but to try to stay comfortable. This course was relatively flat, where my last 5k was mostly downhill for the first half and almost all uphill for the second. So comfortable was the plan ... until the starter said go. My hubby said he saw me take off and start weaving through the crowd.

It ended up fast (for me) and not quite comfortable, but doable.

I stayed consistent with my speed and my cadence. Double win! And a new PR. My official race time (no chip) was 25:10. Good enough for 6th place in my age group.

Woohoo! Now to slow down and build up some miles.

And an added bonus #5bythe5th done and miles for #TeamGiraffe in the #chillychallenge.

 

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