RYKA Iron Girl Boston - 5K - Run5k

It was crowded and space at starting line pretty narrow with 1400 women all starting at the same time. It took about 90 seconds to get to starting line, then very hard to run as very congested. I tried to weave my way through people and wanted Emily to follow, but it was hard as the mass of people moved you had to stay at that pace. Made the turn and passed mile 1, kept checking on Emily as she was following me through the dodging of people. Once onto busy street, area to run narrowed and it became more difficult to get around people. I did a check here to see how I felt, legs were okay, my breathing was labored and I thought what was keeping me from going faster...didn't come to a conclusion.

Once we turned off that street it thinned out and we had a whole side of the road and here Emily ran next to me. After completed mile 2 maybe 3-4 minutes encouraged Emily to take off as she wasn't even breathing hard. It was fun to see her dart around people and get farther and farther ahead...we wore matching turqoise shirts and red hats so she we easy to spot. Here more people passed me than I passed.

As we neared the finish, tried to push harder but didn't feel very strong, heard them announce Emily's name as she finished...great moment very proud of her...finished. Up until this point I felt okay, was so so about the crazy women race atmosphere, but I made the mistake of accidentally seeing the finish clock and was stunned at how slow I was...really thought I'd be 2-3 minutes faster, but I hadn't factored in the 90 second delay in starting. Mentally I did bad here...put my happy Mom face on but was pissed and frustrated as an athelte. I run faster 5K around my neighborhood by 90 seconds...where was the race motivation and improvement? Sucked it up and enjoyed a nice breakfast with Emily, and Kevin than watched the other BTers finish as most of them were doing the 10K.

I would be sure to warm up, give up any hope of setting a PB, have a more fun "women" celebration attitude, seed ourselves further up front, and push harder once things unclogged.

Did a lot of mental thinking after the race and all day as I was conflicted...happy for great mother-daughter event that this was, and trying to deal with the disappointment of how I did. Improvement isn't linear and my last when I run in my neighborhood neighboorhood 5K right after Mooseman about 4 weeks ago which was my spring A peak race, since then my fitness has probably cycled down and will build up again for Cranberry. Okay you all know that I overthink stuff...and did it here. Trying to grow and learn from my experience.

I was shocked that we placed as well as we did in the mother-daughter category...top 25% in a running event...me...wow that is cool! Emily finished about 40 seconds faster tahn me and she did that all in about .7 of a mile. I can't wait to see what she can do with less traffic and more self knowledge about her pacing ability. We were 2 minutes out 6th place...very cool!

I should have given up expectations when we hit all the traffic...but for an official 5K I PBed by almost 3 minutes yet I know I can do better.

Saw Monica finish the 5K, then later May and Ellen were doing great and finishing strong for the 10K followed shortly by Patty. We all hung out and gabbed...fun BT time!


It was very crowded on the race course and women did not seed themselves correctly plus many folks were running in groups which boxed you in more.

Emily was behind me until we finished mile 2, so I kept checking on her...conflict between being a Mom (won out) and being an athelte.

Check out Emily's race report:
http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp...


The post race activities were great, food was fantastic, race itself was the issue for me...to many women, not enough space, and they started the 5K and 10K at the same time...took almost until start of mile 3 to have to room to run at your own pace. Chip timed but did not record time started the race, took us 90 seconds to get to starting line. Very upbeat positive women's race, but don't expect to be fast here.