Race Report: Snowflake 5k

I'm not 100% sure and I'm kinda RunningAhead illiterate, but I think the last time I ran a 5k was the Mule Day 5k back in 2009 (oops, I'm wrong, I ran one in May of 2010). My PR is a 24:32 and was set in 2008.

Needless to say the horrific pain that you suffer during a 5k had finally escaped my memory and so that's how I found myself at the start line of a 5k on Saturday morning.

Luckily, I had part of my Team (Team CAST, as we've affectionately started calling ourselves) there to support me (and pull me through). My coach, Tanya, was there along with our honorary "C" for the day: Cheryl and thankfully, Steve was there to kick my ass.

Coach had suggested that I do a few warm-up miles which turned out to be the best idea ever. Steve and I jogged around for about 2 miles to get the blood flowing and honestly, it helped keep the nerves down, too.

We stopped warming up and lined up with about 2 minutes before the race start. I told Steve to just lay the hammer down on me... and see what I could do. The gun went off and so did we.

I gotta be honest, the first mile felt pretty damn good! But almost immediately after passing the 1st mile marker I started to feel like shit. Steve was keeping a good distance ahead of me and I was just trying to keep up. The next mile felt like the absolute longest mile I've ever ran. I tried not to look at my watch, but I couldn't help it. It was at this point that Steve started to turn around and yell encouraging lies to me. "Doing Great!" "Keep it up!" "Let's go Amy!"

By the time I saw the second mile marker, I was ready to slow down and mosey on into the finish. I knew that we had significantly slowed down since the beginning of the race, but I tried not to do any math in my head and just keep running. With about 3/4 of a mile to go Cheryl passed us. I tried to exchange pleasantries, but I honestly felt like I might vomit all over her if I tried to talk too much.

I was struggling to keep it together, and when Steve turned around to yell at me that we just had a quarter of mile to go ("Just like Wednesday!" he encouraged), I told him not to lie to me. Haha. God, I'm such a bitch.

I tried to kick at the end, I really did, but I just couldn't. I was running at my maximum capacity and had been for the last 3 miles.

The pain and torture was worth it in the end though...

Official Time: 23:05.

Ummm... yeah... I PRed the SHIT out of that race.

Mile Stats:
Mile 1: 7:06
Mile 2: 7:24
Mile 3: 7:36
.16: 6:43

By the time I caught my breath after crossing finish line and realized that I had PRed by almost a minute and a half, I was THRILLED and utterly surprised. Whoa. I had no idea where that came from. (Actually, I do, I just followed Steve the whole entire time, without him, I would have never ran that fast).

To top it off, not only did I record a PR for the day, but I also got 3rd in my age group and got a sweet snowflake medal! Tanya and Cheryl (who had a big time PR, too!!!) also schooled some bitches and they both won first in their age groups. Show-offs.

Now, I'm already thinking about trying to go sub 23 in a couple of months. (OHMYGOD, it's one fucking race and I'm already turning into a speed-greedy monster!).

Team CAST 1-0!