On Saturday I ran the Rotary 5k. I ran it in 2015 after spending a night at the Air Force Ball. Needless to say, I was out late and wasn’t “prepared” to run the race last year. Last year, I ran a 20:12 which I was happy with. This year my only goal was to beat that time.
When I arrived at the race on Saturday, it was windy and somewhat cold. I warmed up, and my legs didn’t feel good or bad. They felt sore from the RnR Philadelphia Half Marathon but other than that I felt fine.
The race started, and I immediately found myself as fourth overall and 1st woman. I stayed there the entire race, and there was no one 20 seconds in front or behind me. It makes for a very boring race recap, but that is how some races go. Heck, I don’t even have any race photos.
The first mile was both windy and hilly. There are a few minor hills, and we were running into the headwind. They closed down the road, but we were running close to several cars. My legs felt decent. I was surprised to run the first mile in 6:16 which wasn’t as fast the Flying Fish 5k two weeks ago.
During the second mile, we went into a neighborhood. The course is out and back, and I nearly got lost in the middle mile. Luckily, a police officer directed me in the correct direction. At the turnaround, I saw I was still fourth overall, and the three males in front were quite far ahead battling it out. We turned the corner, and I began seeing other racers behind going in the opposite direction. There were a lot of high schoolers, and it was motivating to see them out running (considering I couldn’t even run a mile in high school?). I hit the second mile in 6:27.
During the third mile, I just focused on finishing. There were a lot of hills and turns. The course was well marked and even though I had no sight of any other racers, I was confident I was going in the right direction. (To be honest, I couldn’t remember the course at all).
Finally, we wrapped around the high school and headed towards the finish line. I crossed the third mile in 6:27 and the finish line in 19:40.
Thoughts:
I was happy with my results. My time was 30 seconds faster than last year on the same course. (Although this year I had not been out late the night before ;). I don’t have any complaints. Some race recaps are more boring than others, but that is what happens when you run the race so frequently.
Questions for you:
Have you ever raced alone?
Do you run the same races each year?