I had no idea how to pace myself for a race this short, the last time I did a 5k was for Playa del Run and that was really just about finishing rather than going for time. I figured it was only 3 miles so I should probably just go out as fast as could, not sprinting or anything, just a little bit faster than my weekday runs. My first mile was way faster than I thought it would be. I was actually passing quite a few people, although I could see the 6 minute milers way off in the distance. The pack thinned out a lot very quickly, the streets were wide and there weren't a lot of people doing the race so there was plenty of space. I was a little worried I was going too fast, but I felt ok, so I kept going.

Slowed down a bit in the next two miles, I could feel my chest getting tight and I knew if that happened I'd have to slow down a lot so I let up a little. I passed a couple more people, then kept pace with a couple of guys for most of the rest of the way. Didn't take any of the water at the two stops, I had been drinking from my water bottle all morning, and I figured it would just slow me down. It did start to get warm on the way back though, I don't think it was 66 degrees because I could feel my arms burning.

The last half mile or so I could see where the finish was and I started getting excited/anxious whatever, I could feel my heart start beating super fast because it got out of synch with my breathing, which is weird. So I had to keep reminding myself to relax, just breathe steady for a couple more minutes. A few people around me sprinted it in, but as soon as I saw at the 3 mile mark that I was at like 23:30 I knew I'd make it in under 25 which was awesome enough for me. I just finished at the pace I'd been going, I didn't need to make myself more lightheaded.

Nothing, this was way better than I thought I could do.

Walked around a bit, grabbed all the free food, they had lots for a small race. Bananas, bagels, some smoothie drink, water bottles, clif protein bars, there was a local coffee shop there too giving out coffee, and the LA sports massage people, TnT, Saturn (?, idk). Sat down and ate until I got my bearings again, walked back to the t-shirt table to keep volunteering.

There was a tri club table there so I went over and talked to some cool people, Margie and Brooke while they were doing the raffle (I didn't win anything). Margie's a marathoner too which was neat. Was kind of half paying attention when they did the awards, heard them stumble over my name first so I went up and was like "did I get 3rd place" (since I figured they'd go 3rd, 2nd, 1st) and then Deborah, one of the sporteve ladies who was helping me with the shirts and handing out the awards was like "no, you got first" and then I was like "oh my god really?" and walked back to the tri club table with a stupid grin on my face. Talked to Margie and Brooke some more, then helped clean up before riding back home.



Only general running fitness I guess.


I thought the race was very well organized. There was a bunch of people at the water stations and someone at every mile calling out the time. It was a benefit for the local Y so a bunch of the Y members came and helped with registration etc. The expo in the park was good and they raffled off a ton of prizes. This was the first time Sporteve had done a race but they plan on making it an annual thing, it seemed like they had a really good local turnout.