Run Into the New Year

I wanted to do a 5k running race for a while, but just hadn't gotten around to it for whatever reason until now. The Run Into the New Year 5k worked out well into my training schedule, so I decided to give it a shot. Leading into the race I was very nervous. I hadn't raced since Hawaii in October and I wondered how speedy I would really be given that I had taken some time off, trained mostly for 1/2 ironmans and full ironmans the past 2-3 years, and that it is now the off-season.

I made sure to do a nice long warm up before the race. I lined up about 3 rows back from the start (about where I thought the other girls were), and the gun went off. I got boxed in quite a bit and sometimes pushed to the outside by the guys. I didn't feel like I was running all that fast the first 1/2 mile-mile, but I was keeping up with the lead group pretty well, despite losing some ground in the jostling. There were probably about 9-10 women ahead of me after the first 1/2 mile. I didn't worry about it too much and just kept running. All around me watches started beeping (signaling the mile mark). I did not have a watch on as I wanted to run on feel alone and focus on having fun rather than a time. I figured we must be at the first mile given all the beeping. Just then I saw the mile marker. It was pretty close. I continued to run, and passed 2 girls around 1.5 miles. I was feeling strong, but starting to get a little tired too. It felt like longer than it should have to reach the 2nd mile marker (and watches were beeping well before we hit the 2nd mile marker, which contributed to the long feeling). Someone yelled to me that I was the 3rd woman. I could see the 2nd place female ahead of me on the out and back sections and knew that she was out of my reach. I just had to hang on to 3rd! I started to feel very tired in the last mile of the race, but I continued to push my way up the hill, around the corner and down the hill to the finish. I couldn't believe that I was the 3rd place female! I also couldn't believe my finishing time...19:06! A PR by 50 seconds! I was very pleased with my race, especially given the time of year and how many turns were in the course. It was a great way to welcome in the new year!