Frostbite 5K Race Report

Diana, Karen and I after the race. I looked rough after the finish.

Can I just start out by saying that this has been the best day ever?! I have to tell you that I took 4 minutes off my best 5K time clocked in at the Girls On The Run 5K in November. Just keep in mind that my fast is most people's slow. I finished today in 41:26 minutes according to the trusty Garmin, oh I love me some Garmin.

So, let's back it up to the beginning. Karen picked me up and we talked strategy and talked about making this race our best. We went through our usual pre race routine and met up with a friend of mine from the gym, Diana. This was her first race ever, and we invited her to stick with us and run 5:1 intervals. I was feeling so good about this race, and knew that I was going to PR. We started and started pretty strong, dodged little kids, and walkers for the first half mile or so. We were sticking to the plan and ready to rock it out. We hit the mile 1 marker in 13:(something) minutes, as soon as I saw the time I knew it was going to go well. This course is notoriously hilly, and I was prepared or so I thought. My thighs (my IT bands I think) tightened up going up the hill, and I had to walk before the walk interval. Karen and Diana were still going strong so I told them to go on without me, plus, I just wanted to prove to myself that I was mentally tough enough to do it on my own. Let me just tell you that I only finished 3 minutes behind them, not too bad in my eyes. Anyways, I was on my own, and I kept repeating something that Shannon had said to me about running. I repeated my mantra, talked to myself, pushed myself and I even think I said some of these things out loud so anyone within ear shot probably heard my ramblings. I would look at the Garmin and see the time and I knew that I had to push, I had to PR. When I saw that I was not too far from the finish, and I looked down to see my time I knew I had to push through and resist the urge to walk. Granted, I did end up walking just a little but it was less than 30 seconds because I had to beat that time, and I knew that I could get it done. I saw the finish and made the final push with Karen standing at the finish line cheering me on. Could not have asked for a better way to finish.

I learned a few things in this race, I will not go to Zumba in the even before my race ever again. Did I forget to mention that I went to class last night, and I taught Friday morning? I over did it and learned a valuable lesson about REST, and how important it is. I also learned that I am capable of getting it done on my own, I am tough enough. The difference between this race and the Peachtree Classic where I ran on my own was that I had Shannon's little saying in my head, and I was mentally prepared to wave Karen and Diana on. To be honest, I used them being ahead of me to pull me through and work harder. Lastly, I learned that staying for the awards is well worth it, more on that in just a second.

Alright, so we decided to stay for the awards and door prizes, to be honest, mainly because they were giving away Road ID gift certificates and we wanted to win them. Diana, Karen and I were there ready to claim our prizes, because we were sure we were going to win. Diana was pulling for the TCBY gift certificate, we were pulling for the Road ID gift certificates. So, they are announcing the age group awards, and Diana's little boy won an award. We waited, cheered on the winners and then they announced Karen's age group and guess what?! Karen got 3rd place in her age group! She was shocked, I was so proud and happy for her. Then, she won a door prize, an umbrella, which was highly amusing. I was still hoping for the gift certificate but I did end up winning something too. I won a super cute hat from a local boutique.

I am going to proclaim this the BEST DAY EVER of 2011!!!! (so far)

This race was my first for the Run For The Bling Of It Challenge.