Today was the big day that I've been training for the past 4 weeks. The last 5k I did was last August - the Every Girls 5k in Ridgefield which I posted a 38:46 (12:29 pace) which for me was a huge deal because I hadn't run that pace in a while. The previous to that race was the 4th of July run which I did a 40 minute 5k, but to be honest...I hadn't trained much on hills and if you are going to run in Ridgefield, you're gonna run on the hills!
ANYWAY - today started out at 61 degrees at our house at 8 a.m. and I'm was already kinda psyching myself out because I am not much of a warm weather runner...and yes 61+ is warm when you consider that most of my runs occur in the very early hours of the morning and the temps are still in the high 40s to low 50s in June. Things will slowly creep upward...but today, after a week of cooler temps I was not feeling the already 60 degree morning.
Since Tom had to work this morning I made my way down to Esther Short park, found a fabulous place to park it and made my way around the venue waiting for the start of the race. I LOVE running events - there are so many different people who turn up for a 5k run - it's awesome! The skinny people...not so skinny people, old folks and kids...no one is left out! My favorite thing about these shorter races is that it's really family friendly and I absolutely LOVE watching parents coaching their little ones along the course - what a way to instill confidence in these kiddos!
The other really great thing that I was not expecting is that the event organizer opened up our time together with a word of prayer- this is the first time that I have encountered prayer at a public event! Praise God for those event organizers making time to ask Jesus for safety and strength for the runners! There also was a moment of silence for the Boston victims and then the Star Spangled Banner - all things that make me seriously weepy! I'm getting weepy again now...time to move on!
The first couple of blocks of the course is flat and then a turn up Broadway and it's a climb all the way to Evergreen where it kind of levels out. It's such a nice course too, once runners leave downtown we get to run through the Fort Vancouver Historic site along Officer's Row. So pretty through there! As we made our way through the park we cross over 5th Street and head to the path that goes to the Land Bridge - it's crazy to think that even though you are directly above Hwy 14 it just doesn't feel that way. Then there is a quick jaunt down Columbia before the turn around and back to Esther Short park.
My Goal time: 37:17 (11:57)
My Unofficial time: 37:53 (12:12)
I'll take it! I was hot and SO not ready for the hills. I should have known, but I rarely want to run hills in training. It's time to start though, and I keep saying that each year! The next couple of weeks will feature more hill work to get ready for the 4th of July run! I'm very happy with my 12:12 pace...I'm on my way to running my best year ever!
Oooh...the MC for the event (all weekend) is Bart Yasso!!!
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| (photo credit athleticsillustrated.com) |
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