Run in Blue (almost) 5K race report

For those who like short reports:
3.1 (2.98 on my watch) 17:26; 5:52 pace (Garmin pace)
First woman, Second overall
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This was an A race for me. I started specific training for the 5K in March and truly enjoyed it. I did a lot of track, sometimes 2 track sessions in one week. I ran tempos as well. I felt great and my legs and lungs amazed me. Last week I ran 5x1000m with 1 min jog in 5:30-5:45 each and I felt strong, so strong. Then I started tapering and had the roughest time with it. I ran only 30 miles this week and I was going out of my mind. I was moody. All my runs felt horrible, and things got worse and worse as the time went by. I did have a great run on Wednesday morning; 2.61 miles @ 5:58 as part of a "float workout" where you keep the recovery intervals fast.
Here it is, as an excerpt from my training log:

.12; 0:42 5:43 - comfortable; 
.12; 0:48 6:30 -REST 
.12; 0:42 5:43 - easy, slowed myself down 
.12; 0:48 6:30 -REST 
.50; 2:54 5:48 -comfortable 
.15; 1:01 6:46-REST 
.25; 1:26 5:46 - comfortable 
.16; 1:00 6:30 -REST 
.25; 1:26 5:44 - getting hard here, nausea 
.15; 1:00 6:44 -REST 
.25; 1:26 5:48 - HARD, how the hell am I going to run a sub 19, this sucks -> breath, relax, you want to hurt here 
.15; 1:00 6:36-REST 
.25; 1:23 5:38 -push it, give all you've got - surprisingly there was a lot left. 


But my runs on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, all 3-4 miles of each felt hard. My legs felt heavy, I was out of breath, and I worked hard not to get in to much trouble with the family. Few people knew about my race, but a good friend who knew sent me some nice emails and they helped a ton. I was going to give 100% on that day, no matter how I would feel. I went to bed thinking about that and tucked my "Today I will" bracelet in my shorts.


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Race:
I got to Somerville @ 7:30 with the family. I was happy to have them there. I warmed up while they searched for traffic lights. I felt horrible. I was slow. I did 4x1 min strides starting @ 6:30 and finishing @ 5:15. My legs felt better after the strides. I was more worried about my mental state. I have never felt like this before a race. It was not good. 


I finished the warm up 2 minutes before the start of the race. Good. I went to the line and started chatting with a couple of guys. It was a small race and I wanted to have faster people in front of me to chase. 


We took off. I lead the pack for the first  .2 and saw my average pace going from 10 something to 5:10 (Garmin slow at picking up actual pace). I was to run this mile no faster than 6, but after the first bit @ 5:10 I was unable to slow this mile down more than a 5:50. It felt...not hard. I was surprised. Tim said the second mile will be the hardest, and it was. I slowed down to a 6 (but was at a 6:15 lap pace for at least .25 there). There were no mile markers on the course and I had no idea whether the course was going to be long, etc. I ran all the tangents as best I could. I passed 2 guys and there was only one other guy in front of me (he ran 16 something). In mile 3 I told myself that I am doing it , I am breaking 19.   I started looking at the time on my watch, and kept telling myself that I have X, Y, Z minutes left. Around 2.5 I noticed that the lace on my L shoe went undone. I started thinking whether I should stop and tie it, or kick my shoe off completely, or just go with it. This served as a nice distraction and it gave me some extra adrenaline, I think, as I was getting faster. I saw Chris at 2.6X and I started running all out. He said I looked strong. I felt like I was running so slow, but my watch said something else. Last mile had average pace 5:43. I crossed the line and collapsed on the dirt. I was dizzy. I asked what my time was and they said 17:23. My watched showed 17:26. Who knows. 


So the course seemed short on my watch. I talked to a few runners and they all had various distances, but no one as short as me. Who knows. I am putting this as a PR for a short 5K, because I want to give myself the option of being able to beat this PR. LOL. This would have been something like 18:05 for 3.1, so I am very pleased. 


Super happy with this race. I beat the mental demons. I ran well. The training paid off. Thanks Tim (but I do want less of a taper next time:). And as I was waiting for awards, my eye caught these beauties. Can you say 'lucky course"? And yes, there is dirt on my hands from collapsing at the finish. Ha!