I ran a 5K on Saturday morning. Going into the race, I just wanted to take it easy. I knew I wouldn't be trying to run a PR. I have never run the course before, but it was a nice one. The course was a hilly country block. We ran on pavement and dirt roads.
At the start of the 5K, I was surrounded by women that were in my age group. We mostly all ran together for the first half mile. Leading up to the mile was the first hill. That is where I dropped them. It was nice to be out front of them. They were no longer running right next to me. My first mile time was 8:15. The second mile was just like the first. We were off of the pavement running on dirt. I stayed in the middle of the road to avoid potholes that could twist my ankles. Mile two also had a hill. Still no one around me, I charged up the hill. After running up the hill, we turned a corner and had a slight downhill run onto pavement. It felt really good to be running downhill. I passed the second mile mark in 16:30.
The last mile didn't have any downhills. It was basically a steady incline leading up to the finish line. I didn't look at my watch, but I could tell I was slowing down. I told myself to get going and catch the father and daughter running ahead of me. I started to catch them within a half mile to go. I think the incline was getting to her. At this point I was really thankful that I included hill intervals into my weekly runs. It was really coming in handy during this race. When we turned the corner into the parking lot leading to the finish line, I picked up my pace. I was running hard, but I failed to catch the girl. Yes, a 10 year old girl. She beat me by 14 seconds.
I finished the 5K in 26:23 with a pace of 8:29 a mile. I was happy with my finish. I didn't catch the 10 year old girl, but I did run well on the hills and finished strong. I finished the race as the fifth overall female and first in my age group. Not bad for a run on hilly country roads.
No comments:
Post a Comment