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UF Mountaindew Invite - 5K Race

September 24, 2011 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: humid/hot

Comments:
Race was at 8:30am- conditions were kind of humid and hot in Gainesville, but nothing compared to what I dealt with every morning this summer. The race was at the golf course - well groomed on short grass, but it was a challenging race because of all the hills and the weather. Surprisingly, I even thought last week's race in S.C. was easier.

We warmed up easy for 2 miles. My legs felt slow on the warm-up and my shin hurt a little (3.5/10). The pain in my shin disappeared when I was running the race however (as expected bc of all the adrenaline).

First mile was 6:10 - went out slower than anticipated. It was easy to get boxed in at any moment in the race bc of the crowd (200+ runners). Taylor pulled away from me after the first mile and I should have sucked it up and went with her. I felt like I was going fast though and I stayed competitve, passing packs of girls. The 2nd mile was more hilly - 2 mile time was under 13... 12:50 something, so I slowed down a lot as the rest of the crowd slowed down. No girls passed me after the first mile however... I was mostly passing girls. 3rd mile included the big hill, which you run twice. I'm assuming I slowed down each mile since my overall 5K time was 20:23, which was a course PR for me (by a lot).

I can't complain about the race because it was a huge course PR and I tried my best. I cooled down for 30 minutes with Taylor and felt fine, almost like I could have raced it again under 21 minutes. In hindsight, you always think you have too much left at the end. I wanted to go back and push harder on that 2nd and 3rd mile and maybe I could have ran 20 or 30 seconds faster.. It's hard to say if it's mental. I know I'm improving.. this summer and last spring I was doing 5ks on the road in slower times while tapered and the road is 10 times easier, so I know it's a step in the right direction at least.

I know I can run better than 6:30 something pace.. I do it in practice much faster. I thought on my long 1:45:00 run with Taylor the next day how quick a 5K is over compared to our 12.5 mile Sunday runs and how, next time, even if I mentally think I need to slow down half way through the race, I will always have more energy left than I think I do and I need to just gut it out. Just 19 minutes of pain.