Autumn Breeze - 5K - Run

***These are times based off my Garmin. Still waiting for the official chip time. Someone told me that they start the chip timing as soon as they "start the gun" whether or not you're at the start....is that true? If that is the case, then the time on my Garmin is the accurate time because I started it when I stepped across the timing mat at the start and stopped it when I crossed the mat at the finish. The Garmin also showed 3.07 miles...well heck, it's still a 5K***



I lined up towards the back. It was a big crowd and a very small start chute. They started us and I think it took me over 1 minute to actually get to the start chute. I wanted to run my own race and had my Garmin to help me keep my pace. I notice that sometimes the Garmin displayed a pace that was clearly incorrect...like once it read that I was going a 14 minute pace when I was taking my top layer off. Weird. Anyway, the first mile felt good. I was in the back of the pack still. This race has a lot of experienced runners in it and so the group took off very quickly. I felt like I was running well. I knew that my pace was good and my goal was simply to try and maintain a reasonable pace and not fall off too much. When I got to mile 2, I noticed that I was still running well and thought to myself that I ought to try to pick up the pace a little. I wasn't cruising, so it wasn't like I was taking a walk in the park, but I could have pushed myself a bit more. Mile 3 was a bit deceptive because we saw the church and could hear the music blaring and I thought we were getting close, but the Garmin said we had at least 3/4 mile left and it was right. The last 3/4 mile was mostly uphill...that was a bit hard but I kept my strides compact and tried to keep the pace even. It was a bit irritating because I was running by two teen girls and two pre-teen boys and they didn't want to be passed. They were walking and as soon as I passed them, they would start sprinting ahead of me and then stop when they got tired. I just kept running along, trying to ignore them. Finally made it up the continuous hill and got to the finishline.

*****Postscript: Official gun time was 33:50 mins. I was right, it took me about a minute to get to the starting line. And wouldn't you know it, I placed 3rd in my AG! Only bummer is awards went two deep, so no trophy for me! :( But I'll never know, I might have come in 2nd if I pushed a bit harder and I have no idea if the second place gal was ahead of me at the start or not. She ran a 31:53.


Need to be more aggressive in the run. This was my personal best time and I was definitely putting everything I had into it, but mostly after mile 2. Since I'm not confident of my running abilities, I tend to hold back. I'm not quite sure how to attack a run yet. I did kick it in for Mile 3 though and it did hurt! It occurred to me that this was a race afterall when I saw the 10k runners RUNNING. Boy were they running. I watched them as they came in the finish...most of them just 10-15 minutes after I came in and most of them looked like they were going to puke or looked totally beat. I was definitely feeling like I had run, but I think I could have put in about 20% more effort perhaps. I need to think of these as races instead of just completing them. This has been my mindset for triathlons....just finish. Now that I have a decent competitive time, I can start thinking about racing.

Got some yummy jambalaya and diet pepsi. Cheered people in...mostly the 10k'ers. It was fun to be able to recognize the other runners and congratulate folks. It seemed like everyone had a terrific run today. Stood around and visited with my friends from the tri and bike clubs. It's fun to just hang out and socialize.


Nothing really. Just my own lack of self-confidence as a runner. I need to be proud of what I can do and realize that even though I am not as fast as the other runners, I am a bonafide runner. I feel like I have to run a sub-9 min mile in order to be considered a runner. But what am I basing that on? I've made great strides these last few months and I should be proud of myself. My last official 5K run time was over 37 minutes. I did well today.


I enjoyed this race. The weather was cold, but I love it cold. Next time I have to not layer so much. Had to take my top layer off and I was actually sweating even in 60 degee weather. I'll definitely be doing this race from now on. Maybe next year I'll run the 10k!