New 5K PR - 2nd Place in My Age Group

I ran the Lake Mary Community 5K Run & Walk this morning.  I got up a little later than I planned and had to cut my breakfast short.  I only ate half a whole wheat bagel and didn't feel like I had enough energy leading up to the race.  I did drink plenty of water, though.

I started at a good clip and felt like I could have just eased into a nice, comfortable pace.  Around half mile, I just felt like pushing more and wanted to start passing people.  I guess I had more in the tank than I originally thought.  I didn't go crazy getting into oxygen debt.  Just a little burst here and there.  The course had a lot of turns, so I would give a burst usually from 100 yards up through each turn.

I reached the first mile marker in 6:27, which seemed way too fast for me.  Usually when I run around that speed, I start feeling tingly in my hands and feet.  This time I did not, so I kept it up.  I hit the second mile marker at 13:01, so that's a 6:34.  I knew I was going to die or blow my PR out of the water.

Unfortunately, I felt like my chest was going to explode from the heat shortly after the 2 mile mark.  I slowed down to get some water and couldn't get the hand off and just splashed the water cup all over the place.  Didn't get any on me, though.  So I slowed down and that ruined my pace and then I didn't get any water to boot.

Shortly thereafter, I had to take my shirt off for a little ventilation.  I stopped and walked for 30 seconds while I removed my shirt and tucked it into the back of my shorts.  That helped immediately.  I remembered to leave the number facing outward, so they could read it.  There was someone reading the bib numbers on the far side of the track heading towards the finish.  Someone else sitting in the announcer booth read our names as we sprinted the last 100.  That was definitely a nice touch on the part of the race organizers.

I didn't catch my 3 mile split, but my finish time was 21:53.  What's crazy is that I was on pace to run a low 20 minute 5k.  I walked for 30 seconds and obviously slowed considerably otherwise on the 3rd mile.  I ran the final 1.1 miles in 8:52, so that's about an 8:04.  My average pace for the entire 5k was 7:03.

I definitely finished strong for the final 300 yards.  Coming into the final straightaway on the track, there was a guy about 10 yards ahead of me.  I went after him, he went into his sprint to challenge me and I put the afterburners on and held him off.

So not only did I get a new PR by 24 seconds, but I also took home a 2nd place medal for 35-39 Age Group.

This was a great day for me!  PR and some hardware!