As with most events in The Valley every other person seemed to have their dog so I brought Lucy. Many of the dogs participated (one of which stopped for a long poo session about 1 mile in :) ) but Lucy's too young to be running a 5k (though she probably ran more than that while playing with all the other dogs pre- and post-run). Lucy hung out with a friend of mine who was helping with the event while I ran. As the gun went off I was literally talking to my friend and had to jump into the start and just go... and go... and go...
About a mile in I realized that I hadn't run a timed 5k since high school cross country and that I wasn't sure at all how to pace myself. So I decided to just go at a slightly quicker pace than was probably what I'd have chosen and adjust as I went. My legs felt good, my lungs were hanging in there and though my hip flexors were tight my stride wasn't doing too terribly. With about half a mile to go I got to the point I needed to slow down because I was starting to feel funny in the head and my stomach wasn't helping me out (I didn't have breakfast). I held on until I had only a 1/4 mile left and I had no choice (fainting wasn't an option) so I walked for about 15 seconds. Meanwhile, this being an out and back course I knew I was in 3rd place among women so I wanted to hold on. About 4 chicks passed me while I walked but they weren't kicking and I knew I was going to kick the rest of the way. So I got back on the horse and kicked the last 1/4 mile. It was the worst I'd ever felt finishing a race, I thought I was going to hurl/pass out but it was all worth it realizing I passed all those other chicks and somehow managed to finish 3rd among chicks (Jordan, if you're reading this, now I know how you felt after all those XC races).
So I was pretty pumped about my time/place (certainly not a life-time best, but it was much better than I thought I'd be doing right now, especially at 8,000 feet!). It makes me stoked to think about how well I can run when I get my hip flexor back to normal and get rid of my pesky muscle imbalance left over from my ITB injury a few years ago!
Distance: 5km
Course: Out-and-back, paved, mostly flat with a few rolling hills
Time: 25m36s
Pace: 8m15s per mile
Temp: 75degF and sunny
Misc: Wish I'd have had more water before the run
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