Race the Bar 5K

I went all week not sure if I wanted to race on Saturday. I didn't even pre-register. Mainly because they were calling for rain (and you know I don't run in the rain) and I wasn't sure if I wanted to give up another Saturday since the race started at 3pm. Actually, I still didn't know until about 1pm on Saturday. I figured we could drive to the race and if it started down pouring we could just turn around and come back home. That's one benefit of not pre-registering. Not a benefit of pre-registering - cost increases. 40 bucks for a 5K?!? Yikes.

Before we left home it started to drizzle a little but fortunately, it didn't last long. We got to the race site around 2:15 and rushed to get registered. That didn't take but about 5 minutes. So I had some time to just relax and make a restroom stop twice before the race started. I made that mistake last week at the Beerun and for the last 2.5 miles I had to pee really bad!!

I wanted to enjoy this race and not put too much pressure on myself for a specific finish time. But of course I had a goal in mind. I really wanted to finish under 30 minutes. I've only done that once last year in the Nightmare on Elm Street 5K. I still wonder though if that course was shorter than 3.12 miles (pre-Garmin race). I have a feeling it probably was short.

Once the race started I felt like there was so many people in front of me. I knew not to go too fast on that first mile or I wouldn't have anything left for the rest of the race. I looked at my Garmin and my pace was 8:28. I better slow down a little bit. It was a good course. A few hills, but nothing like those steep mountains in the Beerun! Yes, I will probably compare all hills to that race now. The rain held off and in fact, the sun came out and it started to get pretty hot (at least while running). My first mile went by and I knew it was in the 9 minutes but couldn't remember what time exactly. At the two mile marker I was still in the 9 minute range. But in that last mile, I started to slow down a bit. I knew to get under 30 I would have to pick it up and I tried. I just felt like I couldn't go any faster. As I approached the 3 mile sign and could see the finish line, I picked it up as fast as I could.

My chip finish time...30:22. Oh so close! My splits were 9:46, 9:38, 10:05 and 8:31 (for the last .12 miles). Average pace was 9:47. I'm happy with my time but I REALLY wanted to be under 30. Even if it was 29:59. Maybe someday my 5K finish times will start with a "2".

After the race was free beer and really loud not so great music from a live band. Don't get me wrong, I love concerts and live music but not when it's so loud you can't carry on a conversation. The race shirt was also a nice tech shirt and we all ended up "winning" (giveaways) a radio station t-shirt. So all in all, a pretty good race day. The next one in this series is in May. You can do a 5K or an 8K. At first I thought I would do all the longer races but now I may just do the 5K to try and improve my time.

Two more weeks until the beach and 10K! I really need to get a long run in. I wanted to do it today, but my legs were kind of sore from the race. I know I can get the distance and I'm not looking for a specific time for this race. I think after this race, I'm going to focus on speedwork instead of distance. I really liked doing intervals on the track and didn't get to do them as much as I had planned on this training.

FINS UP!!

Me and bro-in-law Doug