Saturday, May 7, 2011

Chapter 2 page 305- TR 106 Race Recap

Today's 5K was actually 3.35 miles . . . and when "C" mentioned it to the event coordinator after we crossed the finish line, the coordinator said she knew it was a .25 miles too long.  "C" and I are familiar with the route since it's also part of the Fort 4 Fitness half marathon route - it's a shady scenic path along the river.
 the "official" map of the course
This race wasn't chip timed but our 3.35 mile time was 43:40 - based on "C's" garmin (our unofficial 5K time was 41:49-my 6th fastest 5K and faster than 7 other 5K's).  I'm not sure I believe the Garmin, but at times it said we were doing 11:30 m/m and often we were doing between 12:15-13:30 m/m . . . that was REALLY fast for me.  I sucked air like there wasn't enough on the planet.  It felt extremely challenging.  I just couldn't go any faster.  I swear I thought we were flying at different parts of the race.  I truly wanted to slow down (which we did the second half) and even encouraged "C" to go ahead of me (but she refused).  I was breathing so hard there wasn't a lot of talking coming from me - thanks "C" for handling the conversation.
After the race
It was a good race - some of the people were very friendly, the weather held out and was perfect, the course is flat and on a paved path surrounded by BEAUTIFUL flowers and trees, there were 2 water stations during the race and one at the end, post race amenities were nice - milk (choc & regular), massages (for fee), and usual snacks - fruit, granola bars, cookie, bottled water.  The cotton race shirts were nice - certainly not ugly (though, I'm not a black t-shirt fan) and we got a sports bottle at the end of the race. 
Heading to the starting line
A rainbow of "May Flower" colors - beautiful!

"C" got low to take this photo - the beautifully bold colors against the gray sky was stunning
 
I guess all the "April Showers" did indeed bring the "May Flowers"

Stunning, don't you think?
Entrance to the park - doesn't it just beg you to go for a run there?

6 comments:

  1. It looks like you ran in my new hood! It is gorgeous over there - I may just have to do a long walk this afternoon :)

    Great job on the race! Way to push it!

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  2. It looks like a beautiful run! Congrats on the time and pacing!

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  3. sounds like a fabulous race! congrats on bumping up your speed!

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  4. For the price that sounds like some decent race swag. I would have probably done this one had I not had my weekend booked.

    I'm a little shocked on the mishap with the mileage for the race. Did they knowingly do that? Weird.

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  5. 1) GREAT RACE GIRL!!! you rocked it!! :) yay you!!! :D

    2) those flowers are beautiful...

    3) free massages?!!! why wasn't I invited? ;) lol...

    4) she knew it was long and they didn't fix it? lol... interesting...

    Looks like a fun time all around!! :) and a beautiful day to run a 5k! :)

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  6. Correct me if I'm wrong, but did you receive a sports bottle at another race recently?

    Congrats on a great race, even if it was longer than a 5K. Looks like a beautiful course... love the photos!

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