I felt like such a renegade yesterday, as I decided on Friday to run the Cary Road Race without running it by my coach. Mainly, though, I was looking for a way to jazz up my training run just a bit, so I decided to make the 5K race the end of my training run, that's all. I knew there'd be a pretty good hill in the first mile or so, then later in the course a small lake to run around. Also, George had decided to run in the 10K, which started before the 5K, so it was a good opportunity for me to cheer him on as well. An added bonus was getting to see a number of my running friends (in addition to George, of course!), plus, the weather report for yesterday promised it would be a beautiful and slightly cool morning.
So, after seeing George and Meri (one of our Galloway friends) off for the 10K, I took care of my early mileage, about 1.15 miles of running and walking, then looked for people I knew in the 10K while I waited for the 5K show to start. I was able to see George once and Meri twice before the 5K started.
The first mile was my slowest (with the big hill), but also just about my favorites, since one of my Galloway pace group friends, Ellen Klinger, came up behind me! She called out to me and when I turned around, we hooted and hollered and carried on! :) It was sooo much fun to visit with her!
My training run for yesterday called for running three 1 mile intervals with quarter mile walking intervals in between. I decided to still run the 1 mile intervals, and walked somewhere between .1-.25 in between, so that the last "mile" of the 3.1 miler was a little short, but close enough. I kept a pretty close watch on my pace, as I didn't want to race this race; I just wanted it to be a training run with punch!
At the first water stop, I had to get my own water cup off the table, as the volunteer kids were busy starting to clean up. (I was near the back of the pack, of course!) Still, I was thankful for the water, which took care of me through the end of the race.
As I finished running around the lake, I saw George and Meri waiting on me to cheer me on, and they ended up running in the last bit (maybe a quarter of a mile) with me, which was fun! There was only one finish clock, and it showed the 10K time only, so I had to wait until results were posted to see how I did for the 5K portion of my run.
Before the race, it was good to visit with Gary and Rachel from Galloway/NCRC, and afterward I saw Lena from NCRC. Ron and Elaine were manning the Raleigh Galloway table, so we enjoyed visiting with them after the races as well.
My overall time for 4.25 miles was 1:10:46, a 16:40 overall average pace, which is an improvement for me! I finished the 5K in 49:07, an average 15:49 pace. Although I had a chip on my shoe (thank goodness!), there wasn't a starting pad, so the time is "gun time" only. This wasn't my best 5K time of the year, but not my worst either. Not bad, considering it was a training run. I'm pleased with the negative splits below.
Mile Splits:
1) 19:26 (part of warm-up)
2) 16:43 (big hill here)
3) 15:57
4) 15:18
.25) @ 13:35/mi pace
1 comment:
Look at you go! Running races without telling your coach and having great improvements in time. You're really doing well. Keep up the great work!
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