Race Report: Run for the Roses 5K

This afternoon I ran in the Run for the Roses 5K in Raleigh. It was a 2:00 race, an unusual time, since most road races start around 7 or 8 AM! I was glad for the chance to sleep in and rest my aching legs from yesterday's 5 mile run/walk. It was a pretty day, sunny--but windy! I wondered how the wind would affect my time, since I'm accustomed to running indoors on the treadmill.

George decided to go with me this afternoon, and he was good company. We got there early enough to find the community center where the race started, and I picked up the racing chip to tie to my running shoe. I saw one of the ladies I met yesterday at the Shelley Lake run, and we commiserated. :-) (I saw another lady out on the course, calling out splits at the one mile mark.) While I was stretching and such, someone came up and asked me about my Garmin, and it was fun to talk shop.

I decided to go out for a warmup run, partly to see how my legs would do and how the wind would feel during the race. I took it easy, running .53 miles in 6:48. I was surprised at how sore my legs were, but okay with the wind at that point.

The race started promptly (I think), and the course went by Peace College, then through part of the historic Mordecai neighborhood of Raleigh. It was a very pretty route, with a lot of flat areas, but some hills as well! Whew! Of course, the wind seemed to kick in big time on some of the steepest parts. ;-) I was tempted to stop and walk on occasion, but I was able to push through. Having the split times at each mile helped, eventhough I had my Garmin this time (the first race I've run since receiving it for Christmas). It was great to have the Garmin for tracking distance as well as time, especially when I could see I'd gone two miles, and I had a half a mile left.

The race ended where it began, so I knew from that too when I was getting close to the end. Since I started out the race pretty fast (for me), I didn't have a lot of kick at the end, but I tried to push a little and hold it to the end. It was a great feeling to see the finish line banner and hear someone over the loud speaker, eventhough I could understand what was being said at first, or see the clock yet. As I got closer, I could tell that I couldn't beat the 35 minute mark that I was hoping for, but that's just another goal for the next 5K, right? I ended up finishing in about 35:30 (my Garmin says 35:28), though I'm still waiting to see the official results posted on the website. That's about two and a half minutes faster than my last best time, so I've very happy about doing that much better, especially with the wind!

I had a great nap after I got home! Now I'm even more sore, but it was worth it!

(I ended up with 29.14 miles for the running week, but the way!)

***Official results have been posted, and my gun time was 35:30 (11:26 pace), chip time 35:08! I finished 424th out of 488 runners, and 28th out of 39 in my age group.