Last week was a busy one (I know you can all relate to life interfering with training sometimes!). After a 14.1 mile training run the Sunday prior to the race, I did NOTHING Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. I do mean nothing...no running, cross training, nothing. We had a track meet Wednesday night so that was part of my "excuse" in addition to increasing work and class responsibilities due to the end of the school year looming closer. Somehow it was all-of-a-sudden Thursday and my 3 mile warm-up to the shop for the group run was my first run in 4 days. Whoops. However, the ten total miles I did on Thursday night were confidence-boosting...7:34 average (just one second/mile off of my goal average pace for the Champaign half that was coming up the weekend after the Easter Seals event). Friday night I was in class after work until late...I ate a late dinner, rolled my legs for a while and went to bed after discussing with Clint the fact that I should take it easy at the 5k the next morning.
Saturday morning was an early one...the alarm went off at 5am (sick...not my idea of a good time to wake up on a Saturday!). After hitting snooze too many times, I rolled out of bed, ate a Larabar, and packed up to hit the road to Peoria. I was in the car by 6:15 and arrived at the race site around 7 to register and to help set up. I spent time with my friend Jen at a booth talking about Team Believe, a team of marathon runners who raises money for Easter Seals, and attempted to recruit more runners for our Chicago Marathon spots this fall. Soon, I looked down at my watch...7:45. The race started at 8am and I still needed to visit the bathroom. Looks like a warmup wouldn't be happening. Whoops.
After hitting the bathroom, I joined the other runners at the starting line...just two minutes before 8. There were 6 or so kids lining the start and two guys who looked like they potentially knew what they were doing right behind them. I joined the guys and settled in. When they sent us off, I took off at what I thought was a moderate pace. I had no real expectations for myself, other than to run around 7-7:30 minute miles to have more time at my goal half marathon pace for the following weekend.
The course of this race is not awesome ;-). It is two loops (yes....two loops for a 5k!) through a shopping area (The Levee District) in East Peoria. The course has two tight little turns that kinda slow you down as well. After the first tight turn (maybe a quarter mile in), I made a right hand turn down a road following two guys that were maybe twenty yards in front of me (at this point they were the first runners). A few other guys and the group of kids followed me. Some guy not far behind us screamed, "don't turn! Go straight! Go straight!" Thank goodness he did because turning right would've resulted in going quite a bit off course. I never did figure out if the two guys I thought I was following were actually in the race...or if they quit...or got lost...or what, because I never saw them again. They really weren't far enough ahead to not catch back up (so it seemed) if they really were able to hold the paces they were running.
My first mile ticked off in 6:35. Whoops. It really didn't feel like I was moving as fast as that suggested (adrenaline?) and I reminded myself that I really didn't need to push hard because I wanted to make sure to get through the race and this coming week and arrive at my half in Champaign strong and ready to run hard. I slowed a bit, but then as we ran through the finish area where the crowd was waiting to start our second loop I sped up a bit as people were cheering us on. Mile two was 6:45. The loop includes a lovely hill toward the back half that is just drastic enough to be annoying. I ran up the hill the final time with the lead guy not terribly far ahead of me and the second place guy directly in front of me (he and I traded spots off and on throughout the race). It was sometime after mile two and prior to mile three that I realized I might actually PR my 5k time at this race (besting 21:09; my PR set in January at the Frosty 5k). Mile three was 6:55 (I'm really good at this "positive split" nonsense :-)). For the final 0.1 I decided to try to push a bit to catch the number two guy (because why not at this point?!) and managed a 5:56 pace for that final bit according to my watch. I crossed the finish in 20:54 (chip time)...a PR by 15 seconds (but I didn't catch that second guy...he got me by a second!).
After I crossed, they snapped a picture of us top three runners (I was glad I wore my Often Running garb as opposed to just my Easter Seals gear for this picture! :-)) and I joined my friend Jen at the finish to cheer the other runners in. At the same time as the 5k, there was also a 1-mile walk going on. It was pretty inspiring to see individuals with a variety of disabilities crossing that 1-mile finish next to the 5k finish. Watching a little girl with Down Syndrome place a medal around the neck of a 70-something man who had just walked a mile in a huge metal leg brace was about more than I could handle. Talk about a reality check...what they accomplished that day was far more challenging than my race.
Later on, I checked the results with Clint to see what the total number of participants was...looks like I got third overall out of 192 runners and 1st female! I spent some time in the pool Saturday afternoon post-race to help deal with the resulting tightness in my legs and was hopeful that I would still arrive at the start line in Champaign next Saturday ready to run my goal 1:40 for the half. Stay tuned :-)...
