MOM's 5K race report

aka almost there in 2 ways: sub 20 and puking.

Here it goes.

Chris asked me a few days ago what I wanted for Mother's Day and I replied: "A race". After a little searching I found a nice little race close to home, in Davis Square Somerville. Perfect. The start was at 10am, which meant that I would be all set eating breakfast at 7am, so no need to wake up at ungodly hours. Perfect. Temps were cool, high 50s. Perfect. The winds though, were not pretty. Holly molly, I could hear them throughout the night and into the early morning. But you gotta roll with what you have, and, really, this is not a marathon! So lets go.

We got to the race around 9am, I picked up a nice race bag including an Adidas Tshirt. I gutted it out and went outside and warmed up for a mile or so, on the course. Two words: holly mother of hills and wind! I almost fell on a downhill (no joke!).

The race was not chip timed, so as we got close to 10am I proceeded to get close to the start line. I let the fast Somerville runners fill the first couple of lines, and positioned myself in the center toward the front. Off we go.

Mile 1: Don't rush! 6:25 average
I started out around 6:30, where I wanted to be. Pretty soon I was the second woman, with the first woman pretty close. I was working harder than a 6:30, which was annoying. The wind was really strong, and since the race was small (250 people) there was noone to draft off of. At .5 there was a .25 hill and I slowed down to a 6:40, but got myself on pace and passed the first woman in the process. That made me speed up!

Mile 2: Keep it up! 6:20 average
Mile 2 was nice, as the wind was coming from the back and I really felt it pushing me. The second woman was right behind me, though. Right next to me was a guy, and we were running the same pace. A couple of rollers here, but not too bad. I was in the zone.

Mile 3: Don't puke! 6:26 average
After mile 2 we turned a corner and the wind was again in front pushing us behind. 2 long hills, not very steep, but with the wind, very difficult to tackle. I put my head down, and all of a sudden I see the second place woman passing me. Darn! I started to go faster, but at 2.5 miles I started gagging and knew that I am going to puke if I push it more. In retrospect, maybe I should have puked already! At 2.75, this woman flies by me and then by the first woman sprinting her way toward first place. I looked behind to make sure there were no other women, and try to push the pace.

.16: Gag! Gag! Gag! 5:55 pace!
I put my head down and sprinted. Saw the clock saying 19:55, and though that maybe I could still go under 20. Nope! After the finish I gagged for a minute or so. I could not stop. The man who ran most race near me came to check on me, asking if I was OK. I was, I just could not stop gagging. Finally I drank some water and the gagging stopped!

Final time:
Garmin: 3.16 miles; 20:12; 6:23 pace; 3rd woman overall!
Official time: 20:12.

SO this is a PR by 13 seconds, but it is not the sub 20 I wanted. I could take some comfort into the fact that my time at 3.1 was 19:48, but I won't because the official time is what counts! Darn, weaving always gets me!

I do feel I gave it my all today, and that feels good. The winning time (women) was 19:57, which is a slow time for a woman's win in Massachusetts, so I bet the weather slowed everyone down a bit!

And what's next? I will find a flat 5K this summer and hopefully manage to go under 20. And yes, I won't bike 50 miles on rolling hills the day before:)

Oh, and I got a gift certificate for a 30 min sports massage, flowers, a trophy which I will probably donate (why oh why are we given medals and trophies, does anyone really keep those things?), a nice tech shirt and lots of great food! For $25 registration, I take it!