Race Recap- Mother’s Day 5 Mile
On Mother’s Day I ran a very HOT 5 mile race. I mean, I live in Florida, so it’s always hot. This one just hit us a little hard, because normally we run first thing in the morning and are done running by 7:30, which is the time this race started. We’re also just getting acclimated to the intense heat that will be here for the next six months! I know- excuses, excuses. I had tentatively planned to run the race at a 9:15 (or so) mile pace, but due to poor pacing ended with an average pace of 9:49. Of course that was according to my Garmin. The official race results had my time at a 10:05 mile pace- the discrepancy is due to The Incident in mile 4. Read on to find out all about it! This race had a 5k and a 5 mile option, and I felt pretty sure that the 5 mile distance would not be popular. My husband was surprised to see me making a playlist the night before, because I normally don’t listen to anything during.a race. I told him I had a funny feeling I would be running by myself a lot, and thought it would be more fun to have music (even though my husband was also doing the 5 miler, we run at different paces.) Turns out my suspicions were correct! We got up at 5:30 am and I drank a large glass of water with LMNT. The race was about 30 minutes away, and on the way there I ate an orange and drank more water. When we got there we got our bibs and did a short warmup run, and I used the bathroom TWICE (foreshadowing.) We were chuckling because we overheard people saying things like “Apparently there’s a 5 mile race too- I wouldn’t want to do that, would you?” “No!” Finally we lined up at the start and they went over the course. They described where the 5 milers would split off from the 5k runners, and explained that at one point the 5 milers would be running on the sidewalk for a while “since there are only about 100 of you, so we didn’t want to pay to close that road.” Ah, okay. The race started at 7:40-about ten minutes late- and I could feel the sweat trickling down my body as I waited- yep, it’s going to be a hot one. I decided to run the first mile by feel instead of checking my watch. Bad idea, because my first mile was 9:01, almost 15 seconds faster than my planned pace. Oops. Why is it so hard to start a race at the correct pace? My second mile was slower, and the third mile even slower. We parted ways with the 5k runners and ran our section on the sidewalk, and at the beginning of mile four, our route took us onto a trail. Nowhere in the course description was there any mention of a trail- I don’t mind, but one thing my husband had said that morning before the race was “I’m just glad this isn’t a trail race.” He’s not a fan, and I knew he was somewhere behind me, cursing. (And yes- on the way home I was treated to a nice rant about that mile on the trail. “It’s not like I MIND running on a trail, but there were so many rocks! I mean, it’s like someone went and dumped a bunch of rocks ALL OVER THE TRAIL! Couldn’t they clear those rocks off before the race, or something?” Yes, let’s have someone clear every single rock off the trail for this race, ha ha.) Anyway, it was during this mile that I realized my stomach was not happy. I had gone to the bathroom twice already, but apparently the third time’s a charm for me- at least on this morning. I figured that, although it wasn’t ideal, I should try to pull off the trail and find a place to go. I surmised (correctly) that once we left the trail, we would be in a much more populated area until the end of the race and I would regret not going when I could. I felt like I was running all alone, but when I veered off to the side I realized that no- there were several runners coming up behind me. Arg. I got back on the trail and started running again, but a few minutes later decided I REALLY needed to go, so I pulled over again. The runners behind me were now in front and I had about 30 seconds or so of privacy, and did what I needed to do. I stopped my Garmin for both these little pitstops, which is why there was a discrepancy between my Garmin time and official race time. Oh, my stupid stomach. Luckily after this I felt much, much better. The last mile of this race was a long, hot trudge. I gave up any pretense of running fast and just kept myself moving forward. And- yay! I finished and came second in my age group! One thing I really love about getting older- if you can just show up and hang in there, you can do pretty well. Picking a smaller race also helps. But no matter what, it’s always fun to win something. We hung out for a little, and an older woman- I would guess she’s around 70 but looked to be in amazing shape- came up to me and said “how do you run in this heat?” Turns out she came down from Cleveland- yes, if you just spent the winter in Cleveland it would be pretty hard to suddenly run in the Florida heat. She was actually here for a triathlon next weekend and decided to run this race just to see what the weather would be like. Well, now she knows! Here’s a picture of me with my AG medal. I love the