Race Report: 2010 Run for the Young 5K

This morning I ran in my first road race of the year, the Run for the Young 5K in Raleigh, NC. It was my first 5K since September, and my first race since the Outer Banks Marathon DNF in November, so I was eager to get back on the road. It was a cold morning, so George came with me and brought coffee for himself (and for me later--yum!).

Parking was easy, and chip pickup was inside Christ Episcopal Church in downtown Raleigh. (I picked up my race packet last evening at the Athlete's Foot in Cameron Village. One of the men at the bib number and t-shirt pickup table commented that I ran lots of races. That gave me something to mull over on the way home, as it's been quite a while since I've run a PR. I really have been afloat for a while in my running, and am so happy to have more direction in my training and running goals now.)

I walked briskly to warm up before the race, at Brennan's suggestion, to warm up, and I enjoyed seeing and visiting with Pauline a little bit. The race started on time, best I could tell! The course took us through parts of downtown Raleigh, including my high school alma mater, which was cool! There was some hillwork in there, but I took it as it came along. My IT bands didn't give me any trouble, but I ran and walked pretty conservatively to test them out. Coach Brennan told me to try alternating running .5 mile, walking .1 mile, then repeating, and to alter that if I needed to for more walking. That run/walk ratio ended up working out well, though, and I was really glad. At the 2.4 mile mark, I started running the scheduled half mile, and when I got to 2.9, I could see the finish line, so I kept on going! Brennan found me on that last stretch, and ran  with me to the end. My last mile was the fastest, which was fun to learn from my Garmin later! Part of the motivation for speeding up was that I was tired of having the police car on my tail for most of the race, and I was ready to shake him/her! After the race I enjoyed chatting with Brennan and Steph.

I finished with a chip time of 49:28, gun time of 50:03, 302 out of 309 finishers, and 20/20 in my age group. After being the last finisher of the Mebane on the Move 10K and the Triple Lakes Marathon back in the fall, I was glad to finish ahead of the back this time! Now, I'd like to start moving up the age group ranks as well.

Afterward, we met some other runners from the Galloway group at Panera for an early lunch, which was a treat! We enjoy the running fellowship a lot! All in all, it was a really fun morning, and it reminded me why I run.