Final Race of the Year

Before I knew the splits for the Giant Acorn race, I had signed up for the Saint Mary's Light the Fire 5k. I did this because I wanted to try and get a 5k time under 25 minutes. I really didn't think I had smoked the 5k like I did during the triathlon. At least it didn't feel like I ran it that fast!

As luck would have it, I got my goal of a sub 25 min 5k. Yay! But now I am signed up for another 5k...yikes!! Oh well, I signed Jordan up for the 1-mile fun run, so I might as well do the 5k while I am there. :-)

Ugh...it was soooooo cold this morning. There was even frost on the ground!!! Now I really didn't feel like running. I did the fun run with Jordan at 8am....and she rocked it! Can you believe that my 4 1/2 year old ran faster than some older kids??? She ran it in 12:42!! I am so proud of her and she LOVED it! She said she is going to do more races in the future. I think it's because she got a "Participant" ribbon at the end, so she thought she won, even though everyone else was getting them! Too cute!! She was waving that ribbon like she was the queen of 1-mile runs.

We sat in the car for a little bit to warm up some. I hopped out about 20 minutes until race time to "warm-up". haha....you don't get warm very quickly when it's like 20 degrees out. Still at this point I am thinking to myself, "I really don't feel like running, I am still yawning!". But I head up to the start line anyhow and just hang out and stretch before the gun goes off.

I get my first mile split and I can't believe my ears....7:15....what?? That can't be right! My legs don't feel like they are moving that fast! We head up the big hill to Country Club Dr (the turn around) and I just keep pushing. The cold air is piercing my lungs but after the turn around we get to go downhill some and this helps me relax a little. So after that hill we get to mile 2, and they are calling out times there. I hear "15:08" and I still can't believe it. I thought for sure the previous hill took me longer to complete. At this point I am thinking, "No way, I can't believe that, I can run a sub 24 5k??!! What??!!". This motivates me to have a quick leg turnover in hopes to get to the finish line before 24 minutes is up.

Right before I turn down the final street I have to count steps in my head so that I distract myself from the distance I still have to run. Once I turn down the final road and catch a glance at the clock I see it's 23:36 (ish)! I am sprinting the rest of the way baby!! I cross the finish line at 23:46! WAHOO!!

I can't believe it, I started the race not really wanting to run, then end up getting a PR! This time puts me at a 7:40 per mile pace, and THAT my friends is pretty darn cool. ;-)

Oh yeah, not to mention....I was the fastest female in my age group (24-29). 1st place baby!

My first 5k of the year was done in 27:16. I was able to shave 3.5 minutes off of my time over a period of 6 months. What a way to end the year! Now I can put those racing flats up for the season and start the training for my marathon.

Yes, you heard me correctly, my first marathon. Stayed tuned for more details!! ;-)