Rage Against The 5k (Race Recap)

(nods to OUAL's rage against the electrician).   
Alternative title:  the longest short race ever. 

Ah yes...the 5k.  The race I love to hate...to love....
I've made no secret of wanting to break 20 in the 5k.  It would be a dream some true.  However, in full disclosure, my recent workouts told me I wasn't quite there.  I figured I'd sign up for a 5k before Eugene training started to see if I could knock time off my PR.  Here's the one I did:

Race Day
I woke up at 5:30AM and cursed out the alarm.  I ate some mango chunks and had coffee with almond milk.  Almond milk has been the best HLB discovery simply because I can't drink normal milk (I drink a ton of milk usually) before I run (I get pukeworthy sick) and now I can drink this stuff before instead...

Drove up to Playa Del Rey and was surprisingly early.  Usually I am the world's latest person for races but there was no traffic so I ended up just hanging out for a while.  I warmed up and realized that I felt pretty terrible.  I had a bit of a headache, felt tired, and my legs felt heavy.  And just like Shakira's hips don't lie, my race legs don't lie.

I went up to the start, and only one other girl was there.  She was in an old school track outfit and giant Nike shoes.  Girl was running striders for like 30 minutes.  But she ended up finishing ahead of me, so clearly she's doing something right.

Finally, it was time to go.  The course wasn't chip timed, which was sort of disappointing, but it's not like 1-2 seconds are keeping me out of an Olympic Trials qualifier, so I guess it's ok.   I asked some guy next to me what he was aiming for and he said a 19:45.  I told him I wanted to sub-20 but it had never happened before, so the odds of it happening today were pretty low.  (Yup...my confidence was pretty low ;-). )

I try to break up my races into chunks in my head because it helps me to get through them, mentally.  I planned it as follows:  First Half Mile:  Settle In.  Miles .5-1.5:  Fast but controlled.  Miles 1.5-2.5:  Focus like a mad woman.  Keep stride fast.  Miles 2.5-3.1:  Run like your life depends on it.

Here's how it turned out in reality:

Sorry, no pics, but this is the jist ;-). 

Mile 1: 6:17
Thoughts:  Keep it right around 6:30...wow, that was 6:17?  Maybe you will sub-20!  Thank god I passed that woman pushing the stroller.

Mile 2: 6:46
Thoughts:  WHY ARE YOU SLOWING DOWN, Slowass????  My lungs are burning!
I was running alone most of the race from mile two.  It was mentally tough. 

Mile 3: 6:35
Thoughts:  Gut it out, Gut it out, Gut it out.  Lung still burning.
Some lady and her family were about to cross the path right in front of me and I yelled "track".  Guess the impatient track runner in me will never die.   =)

Total Race Time:  20:26, 4th Woman. 

Thoughts:  This was a 13 second PR, and it's hard to pick apart a PR.  It's good to be south of 20:30 and I'm proud of myself for running a decent race when I didn't feel "on".  It's frustrating, because I think on a good day, I could have done better, but on Saturday (judging by how tired I was the rest of the day), I'm pretty sure that was my best.  And sometimes your best just ain't good enough for your lofty expectations!

Guess I'll just have to run some more of these godforsaken 5ks!  
Love,
Margot "Sub-20 One Day" FasterBunny