Race Report: Hopebuilders 5K

Course map/elevation profile

After several weeks of decent mileage and some productive workouts, I was looking forward to seeing what I was capable of.  I have been in the 22 minute range all season.  Last night, Eric and I previewed the course and it seemed like it was going to be a tough one.  Last year's times were pretty slow, so it was pretty obvious that I was probably not going to have my best race.  Cody was in town for the Take Flight Triathlon (his parents are participating tomorrow), so we thought it would be fun to do a 5K... Cody's first ever!

Top 3 reasons this race was not meant to be:
1.  The term "5K" was left up to interpretation.  The course actually measured about 3.16, which adds about 25 seconds to the overall time.
2.  Inconveniently placed hills.  Although I always start my races way too fast, it was impossible to get a good stride going because the first mile was almost entirely uphill.  One would think it could work to their advantage because it must mean that the end of the race is downhill, right? WRONG!  The last .2 miles were uphill, past where the race started.  For the first ever time, my slowest mile was the first one.
3.  Lack of restraint on my part.  Eric had prepared such a wonderful lasagna for dinner, it seemed appropriate to have a glass of wine (or two) with my meal.  I don't know if it actually effected my race, I felt completely fine, but I am sure there were more appropriate beverages I could have chosen to accompany my meal.

So the best part of the race was all of the children lined up at the start of the race.  It was a benefit for the Levine Children's Hospital, and there were several teams walking and running in honor of special children.  At the start of the race, several of the children bolted from the start line and stopped before they even reached the first .1 mile... out of breath... TOO SOON!

I panicked when I came through my first mile at 7:20.  Although it was pretty much entirely uphill, my first mile is usually about 6:45.  I thought I was running pretty aggressively, but it was a toughie.  Mile two felt better, once it leveled out and started tending downhill, 7:09.  Mile 3 started uphill, but went downhill on the second half, 7:16.  The last "tenth" of a mile was back uphill for the finish.  Not the ideal course, but my overall time was 22:37.

So although I am not actually improving, I think the race was a moderate success, given the hills and length of the course.  I was really hoping to break 22 today, but given Eric and Cody's finishing times, I think that I can legitimately say that my time does not reflect my performance.  On the bright side, after the race, I ordered myself a fancy Garmin watch, and I look forward to having more accurate feedback about pacing and distance!

Results:
52/776 overall, 5th female overall, 2nd in age group with a time of 22:37 (7:18 pace)

Eric- 2nd overall and 1st in age group with a time of 17:51 (5:45 pace)

Cody- 6th overall and 1st in age group with a time of 19:01 (6: 08 pace)

Glad we could all be winners today!  Looking forward to watching the big triathlon tomorrow morning!