Green Lake Gobble 5K

In an effort to motivate myself I signed up for Amanda's PR Challenge and set my sights on a new 5K PR.  I knew this was going to be a long shot but I figured the motivation would at least get my butt out the door.  That and the looming marathon training.  Good motivators both.

The race I chose was the Greenlake Gobble 5K.  As the race approached I realized there was pretty much no way in hell I would PR.  I have been putting in some better mileage lately but all of it has been slow. When I woke up on race morning to freezing temps and snow I almost crawled back in bed and didn't go.  Actually I did crawl back in bed but then talked myself into going.  Races are such happy places and runners have such positive energy and frankly, I can use a bit of that these days.  Besides, I am always happier after a race.  Also, I paid for the race and signed up for this challenge so I felt like I had to.  So off I went, all bundled up (three shirts) and wearing my turkey leg head band proudly to go run 3.1 miles.

Since this wasn't even close to a PR attempt I just set out to have a nice fun run.  Somewhere in the first half-mile I realized I might be able to bring my time in close to a 10:00 minute pace.  So I ran a little faster.  Then I realized how many races I have run with a per mile pace that starts with two digits and how disappointed I am by that.  So I ran faster still.  My new goal was a sub 10:00 pace.  Then, with only about a half-mile to go I remembered my tangent problem and the fact that I can't run the exact distance of any race and always end up with more mileage than the distance.  Crap!  Even though my Garmin says my overall pace is 9:54 there is a good possibility that I will run 3.2 miles and blow my pace goal.....and I did.  With no gas left in the tank I crossed in 31:07 which is a pace of 10:02 per mile and almost two minute slower than my 5K PR in April.

Here are the splits:

Mile 1:  10:06
Mile 2:   9:51
Mile 3:  9:53
Mile .15 (according to my Garmin)  9:02 pace

If I used my Garmin stats I would have ended up with a 9:54 pace.  Considering that my "fast" runs lately have been a hovering around 10:30 I am pleased with this time and pleased that I decided to end up racing it after all.  And I know I raced it when I could feel the soreness in my quads the next day.

Next race:  Eugene Marathon!