Saturday, August 8, 2009

Race Report: Back to School 5K

This morning, I participated in my third 5K with a goal of 35 minutes or better. I finished in 36:50 (according to my Garmin Forerunner GPS watch) so I didn’t beat my goal. But I did finish 3 minutes faster than my previous 5K on May 9th but it’s hard to compare since they are different courses. I am okay with that time but not excited about it. I know I can do better than that!

I started out way too fast the first mile so of course the last 2 miles, I really struggled. I slowed down and walked at the 1 mile mark but really should of kept on running. I guess mentally, I still have it in my head that I can’t run more than a mile but I was actually feeling fine so I honestly believe it was a mental block not a physical one at that point. After that, it was hard to start running continuously again. By mile 2, I had very little left in my legs plus lost focus on controlling my breathing and heart rate. I did have my iPod and never again will I race with music…it was too distracting when I’m trying to concentrate on my race. When I’m training it’s great but not during a race. Plus they advertised the race as being traffic free but it wasn’t, about 4-5 cars had to maneuvered their way around the crowd of runners.

Even though I didn’t feel like I had a great race, I’m not going to give up and keep up with my training! I have to look at it is I’ve been only running for 5 months and who knows what will happen this fall when the weather cools down.

My next 5K is on August 29 at Duncan Park, the same course as the Run for Scouting 5K I did back in May so it will be a more accurate test to see how much I will have improved in 3.5 months.

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