Last night was the Brewmasters Gate 5K. I wasn't sure how I felt about a run at 7pm, but I've been wanting to do a 5K for along time and this seemed a good opportunity.
The weather seemed pretty nice: it was 51 when I left for the race, but as the sun went down, the wind picked up. I had just finished parking my car when I heard someone call out my name: it was Bridget! She knew a few other people running as well, so she said she'd cheer for me :)
I felt pretty good lining up at the start, I was in the first few rows of people. When the gun went off, I tried not to start too quickly, but within a quarter mile or so, I found myself breathing a little heavily. I actually considered stopping, thinking "it must just not be my day". Then at the first turn (0.52 miles) I look at my watch and realized why I was breathing so hard, it said 3:08. I slowed down a bit for the next half mile.
There was a decent crowd running, but everyone was pretty spread out where I was. That didn't stop a guy from coming up right behind me and drafting off me, however! It sucked b/c I didn't even want to spit because I thought it would hit him, he was literally so close to me. Then some girl came up and ran right next to him. He pulled forward at about a mile and left. I hit the mile marker at 6:46. Shortly after that, the girl who'd been right at my shoulder started to move forward. She was breathing really heavily though, so I wasn't too concerned. I told myself I'd concentrate on other runners come mile2 or 2.5, for now this was my race against myself.
Right before the turn-around point, the girl was just a few feet ahead of me, as she reached out to grab a water (the water I wanted!) . But she obviously had never had Mike Richardson Cup Drinking Instruction as I had, because I passed her easily right after a couple of sips, and soon I could no longer hear her ragged breath.
I'm actually a big fan of 'there-and-back' races, because of the emotional kick I get from feeling I'm on the way back. By this time it was too dark to see my watch and I hadn't yet learned how to turn on the indiglo to stay lit, so I fumbled with it a bit as I was running. A handful of men passed me, and in general everyone said "good job", it was pretty nice. My 2nd mile split was 7:08. An older guy passed me as we got closer to the brudge. He said I was doing well, and pointed out that the bridge was looming ahead. I told him I was trying to ignore that fact, and he said "it's a tough one" as he pulled ahead. My thought was "nothing compared to the hills I'll be dealing with in a month", and that put a big smile on my face. Yup, a month today!!
I passed some guy on the bridge, and made the final turn for the .52 left to the finish. There was really no one ahead of me at a decent distance to try to catch or pass - I actually hadn't seen another woman runner in front of me since before the first mile marker - so I just chugged along. There was a moderate downhill, but the wind was cold in my face. Bridge-guy passed me, then slowed down and I went by him again. The end of the race was *inside* the bar so right at the end you had to take a sharp left into the building. How ridiculous. Right at that corner I heard Bridget cheer me on, and I looked up at the clock: 21:54. My goal had been sub-22, and it was staring me right in the face. They didn't officially record times, but I stopped my watch at 21:56 so I guess that's that. A PR by just about 40 seconds.
They had medals for the Top 25 Females, I got 5th.
I grabbed a gatorade and headed out to say hi to Bridget. She commented on the fact I didn't even seem winded. It was a good race, I'm really glad I did it. Andy said this was going to be a year of PRs for me, and I think he's right. Now I just have to focus on my 10K time! :)
