I think the Jingle Jog 5K will be my last race of the year. Although we aren’t there yet, I don’t anticipate running any more races. Ten days out from the marathon, I had no expectations of how this would go. Plus, any race on Edwards, I try to just “have fun.” It’s nice to see the community and not worry about pace.
Before the Jingle Jog 5K:
The Jingle Jog 5K started kind of late (8 AM) on a Wednesday. It can be hard to make some of the events just based on meetings. (It doesn’t make sense for them to have races on weekends, because there is almost no one here…myself included!).
I am usually done running by 8, but luckily, there was nothing I had to be at work for. I jogged a few miles to the start (seriously, the benefit of running the base races is I can jog to the start…and they are free.). My body still felt heavy from the marathon, but I was recovering well. I didn’t have goals or expectations, just to have fun.
Jingle Jog 5K:
The Jingle Jog 5K went along the paved trail. Immediately into the race, I found myself in first place. There are a lot of talented runners at Edwards, but they just weren’t there that day. There were a couple of young boys that were keeping up with me, and we talked for a minute. Honestly, it was impressive.
The first mile I hit in 6:50. I was surprised. I got a little sidetracked during mile two when I saw some cool airplanes taking off. LOL, I almost ran into a bush. I was half expecting the race course to be short, but we hit halfway in around 1.55. From there, I powered to the finish. I could see the young boys were no more than 10 seconds behind.
I hit mile 2 in 6:55, which I was pleased with. At this point, I could feel the marathon in my legs, and breathing felt hard. I was just trying to focus on the finish. The next mile I felt like I found another gear, even though, whew, was I tired. I just wanted to finish.
I finished the third mile in 6:41 and crossed the finish line in 21:04.
Thoughts:
Was it my fastest 5K? No. But it was fun. I wasn’t expecting big things from a race 10 days post-marathon. I like to run these to see other local runners and have fun. Plus, it’s a nice change from the monotonous desert.
You can see Strava here and all race recaps here.
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Questions for you:
What’s the most low key race you’ve done?
Do you have anymore races for 2024?