cheerfulToday was the Mets Run to Homeplate 5K out at Shea Stadium. What the heck was I thinking signing up for a 5k at 10am at the end of July on hot ASPHALT?! Apparently, not too clearly as I asked a fellow teammate on why we do this...and her response: "Because..." Hmmph. ;-) Anyway, I decided pre-race that sub 7 probably would not happen because honestly feeling like I was going to pass out was not my idea of a good time, nor did it make any sense at this point. So to me, I said, let's just run the first mile, see how I feel and re-evaluate as far as PRs are concerned. I wanted to beat my current PR and see if I could sub 22. Anything extra would be bonus but if not, then so be it. As we stood by the start, about 10 minutes prior, I could feel the sweat dripping down my back...so not good considering no exertion had taken place yet. So we waited...and waited...and finally the horn.
I was right around the 7 minute mile start, but naturally there were way too many people that shouldn't be there. I was trying to maneuver around them because a crucial aspect of the 5k is your start. So I got through the original cluster, a hairpoint turn, and about a half mile in I could see Sempre Libera not terribly far ahead of me. I definitely saw this as a good thing because that meant I probably was hovering somewhere around 7min mile. I didn't feel terrible and really didn't push too too much. A little before mile 1 I caught up to SL and gave her a wave, hoping she'd keep up and help pace me the rest of the way. I noticed she didn't and realized she wasn't racing this. So off I went...clocking mile 1 at 7:03. This time around I didn't feel like the 5k at the beginning of the month when the wheels came off at mile 2. I kept up the pace and fell into a comfort zone. Funny because a 5K you shouldn't but hey I guess that's what I get for being the pacemaster. Only annoying thing was the woman that kept telling runners they were less than a mile from the finish. Considering there was well over 1.5 miles to go, uh no. Mile 2 came in at 7:03 as well and I still felt pretty good. I realized at this point that my PR was going down today. It was time to go for the kill.
All I remember from Mile 3 is another team's coach trying to coach one of his runners past me. I didn't really like that and used that to try to pick up my own pace. I still fell within my comfort zone and clocked mile 3 at 7:07. Not bad at all! Considering my PR was a 7:08 pace....I knew all I had to do was cruise to the finish and a new 5K PR was mine. Sure enough I cross the finish at 22:00 (21:57 by my watch) shaving a full 8 seconds off my PR. Very exciting considering the horrendous heat. Another step closer to sub 7 and I still haven't run all out yet. It also marked my highest AG rating at 67.2% and my team finished 9th overall in the female club division! I still am not sold on these short races but at least I'm getting better at them.
So that's that...my last race as a 25 year old....Club Championships falls the day after my birthday. So here's hoping for a belated birthday gift;-)
