Race Report: Believe! 5k
Thursday, December 9, 2010 at 7:00AM Somewhere along the line, we became a family of athletes. How a pizza and Coke guzzling family that'd rather heckle than run turned into triathletes, runners, and martial artists... I will never know. Truly, it's a Christmas miracle.
So anyway, since I was going to be home for several days, my dad and I thought it'd be fun to run a 5k together. My dad is much, much faster than me, so this would just be a fun run for him - not so much for me, since I've been off my training for several months!!
Here's the lowdown:
TOTAL TIME: 33:59
RANK: not sure
AVERAGE PACE: Also not sure, but Mile 1 (9:47) Mile 2 (12:13) Mile 3 (9:11), so do the math
As you might guess above, some of my stats are unclear. The course was super hilly (at least for me!) I am happy to say that I busted my booty. Bigtime. I took two 20-step walk breaks, but I ran the rest - I pushed it as hard as I could. I am proud that I improved my time, even though the course was hilly!
I had a hard time reading the finisher stats from the race organizers, so I just had to macgyver them above. My chip time was clear, but my group rank and average pace wasn't so easy.
The race took place in McKinney, TX, which is about an hour north of my house. We got up at 5:30a, so that we had plenty of time to drive, grab Starbucks, and Whataburger breakfast (hey, I was on vacation!) Our group was made up of my dad, my brother Nolan, and then my sisters Abs and Billie Sue. And me, of course. :)
My dad had no problemo getting up at the crack of dawn:
Billie Sue commandeered the camera - it was kind of nice for someone else to take over memory-duty for a few hours!
This is how us girls felt about it:
A lady (mister?) in a snowman outfit was the race mascot, so of course we had to snag a pre-race photo with him:
During the race, BOTH my shoelaces came untied. I really need to get runner laces - those kind with the bumps that prevent that sort of mishap.
My dad and I had a great time. He is an excellent running buddy because he isn't mean or pushy, but he doesn't let you off the hook either. He is also fast! I think that might be part of how I improved my race time on a hilly course.
Here I am dying on the home stretch hill and hellfire. In Chicago, most all races end on a hill - it's a huge, sad joke around here. I thought that maybe I'd be off the hill-hook since I was running a race in TX. Mmmmm no. This hill was the hugest of the entire course! I wanted to fall over.
But that would have injured my booty. So I didn't.
Then, I crossed the finish line!!! That was an exciting moment after 30+ minutes of hill after freakin' hill. There was a big crowd at the finish line, so I had to stop running immediately after crossing - never a good thing because then you pass out or collapse. As evidenced here:
We had a great time at the race! I'm really glad my dad and I got to run it together. When preggo Tweets has given birth to the chick-let and she's recovered, then I bet the three of us will take on another race!
Not a sub-30 5k yet - but I'm getting there! For you other runners, how did you score your first sub-30 5k? (And if you have ALWAYS run a sub-30... well you can just shhhhhhh) ;)
Family, Running, race report
Reader Comments (6)
I'm really inspired to start running again with the goal of a sub 30 min. 5k. The fastest I've done is 32 min. and some change - only because Jason was cajoling me the whole way and I wanted him to stop. I'm not sure how fast I could go motivating myself. Off to look for spring 5ks!
Dad was in the way of your "finish" photo. oh well. I tried!
Yea! Nice job on the 5K. I can't stand 5k's anymore... they hurt too much :)
Miss Penny, you gave a great effort! Great family time...I have convinced Nolan that he needs to run one these things with me as well! How bout you BillieSue?
I admire you so much for committing to these races! I wish I could get my butt into gear and do the same. :)
My first sub-30 min 5K was accomplished because I ran with James. He is much faster, and it made me REALLY push myself. I thought I was going to peeter out, but I just kept going anyway. By the time I caught up with him (he couldn't keep that pace up), I couldn't stop!!! Basically, I had gotten up to 80-90% of my VO2 max, and while it was exhausting, I could maintain it.
I think what helped me was doing interval work, and then just plain old pushing myself even though I thought I doubted I could keep it up. We can do more than we think we can!