On Sunday, my husband I went down to Delaware to race. I haven’t run in Delaware since August. To be honest, I enjoy running there, and I missed it. It’s about 30 minutes from my house, so I don’t mind the drive down there. I like running along the river and downtown area as well.
We got to the race at 8 am. We warmed up and realized the race started at 9:30, not 9. I hadn’t paid enough attention. I was frustrated, but it wasn’t like we were going to leave. We sat in the car for a few more minutes, ran another mile and headed to the start. We ended up running 4 miles before the start, versus the standard 3. Despite being frustrated, my legs didn’t feel too bad, so I was excited to race.
The race started promptly at 9:30. I nearly tripped over several kids at the starting line but was able to move quickly around. During the first mile, I found myself 2nd women overall and 10th person.
Despite racing the day before I did not feel too bad. I was close behind the first place women. I began to catch her, and we both hit the first mile in 6:02. Immediately I thought, a few seconds faster than yesterday. I know it’s not a good idea to compare races and days, but I found myself doing it anyways.
During the second mile, I began catching a few more people. It was motivating because after Saturday’s race where the wind caused the second mile to be the slowest; I found myself not fading as much. I was becoming more excited it could be a faster race for me. I ran the second mile in 6:06.
The third mile ran right by the start and looped into a nature preserve. The hill wasn’t significant, but it was enough to be painful. After climbing to the top, we ran by a stadium and to the finish. I knew my pace was drastically slowing. My goal became to maintain the pace and be hopefully finish around 19 minutes. When I looked down at my watch at 2.75, and it read 17 minutes, I knew it would be close. I powered through and ran the last mile in 6:11.
I crossed the finish line in 19 minutes exactly. I should have cut tangents better to under 19.
Thoughts:
I’m happy with this race. I ran a strong race, and I was pleasantly surprised to run 19 minutes after running the day before. I made the goal of anything under 19:45 I would be happy with. Since I surpassed that goal, I am beginning to realize I am at a different fitness level than I’ve been the last two years.
Questions for you:
Have you ever messed up a race start time?
When was the last time you surprised yourself?
Congratulations on your incredibly fast 5k finish! Training for anything else? I like arriving to races well ahead of time so I can stretch, use porta potty, etc. I arrived to a half marathon late once and it was horrible– race already started when I got there!
I only started following you this summer, and it’s been fun to see you improve so much in your 5k!
The last time I surprised myself was last weekend. I had a really strong 13 mile run with my dad where I ran a lot faster than I thought I could.
That’s awesome Katie. I’m glad to hear you were able to surprise yourself. I appreciate your support too!
You’re at an awesome fitness right now! Two back-to-bal 5Ks in 19:30 or less is really great.
Love seeing these back to back races and how fast you’re running! I surprised myself at the Philly Rock n Roll and hopefully this weekend. I think in the early spring my goal will be to do some more 5ks. But next my goal is to rest and recover after an intense summer/fall.
I hope you are able to surprise yourself too Sarah. You had an incredible RNR!
i actually surprised myself with this last half marathon. weather conditions were ideal and the course surprisingly flat led to a PR that i didnt think i had it in myself, especially since i raced a 10k the day before and my calves were super sore. yay for happy surprises and what a great time!! does hurt that the temps are getting cooler either!
Another great finish!!! You are freaking killing it, my friend. I love reading these. They are kind of like “just another day in the life of being a total badass”. So inspiring!!!! <3
Love seeing you rock these races, Hollie! And I imagine it must be a great feeling to see your fitness level improving so much. I’m due for my first boarding trip of the season this weekend, and I’m curious to see if the training Idid over the summer will help me with that.
Congrats on the awesome race results. Great blog!
Thank you for stopping by Mark!
Those splits are phenomenal. You should be super proud of that effort, especially for a back-to-back race weekend. That’s also a really artistic picture of you. 🙂 It seems like there are kids to trip over at the start of every race, these days. 😛