I think I ran twice in the week before this race for a total of less than 6 miles, and those were my first runs after the marathon, so I can't say I really trained for this event. I felt pretty good going into it except my QL was bothering me in my back and my right knee started feeling stupid (it went away eventually). I guess I just felt rickety but I was able to stay strong and consistent- my splits were all almost exactly 13:25, even with a potty stop at mile 3ish (I need to stop drinking coffee before races). I stuck to a 5:1 run/walk interval and finished strong, even passing people on the hilly bits towards the end.

I also PR'd this race by 5 min so yay! Wish it was more.

Run consistently before the race and not drink coffee in the AM. The distance is long enough that it's challenging/interesting but not so long that I can't phone it in on the back of my summer training, which I usually what ends up happening.

Walked the very long distance to the finish party, wolfed down my chocolate mug, waited for a friend could finish so I could say hi. Stretched a bit at home, did the ice bucket, massaged my feet and ankles.


Not training consistently after the marathon. I told myself I'd wait 2 weeks after the marathon to run again but it ended up being 3 weeks which is fine. I probably needed all that time off anyway.


Everything was on time and well organized which is not something I can say for past RAM events, so gold start there. The beginning of the course (the route and the crowds) were super annoying so just a heads up- I would have been ticked if I was trying to PR a 5k and was stuck in all that mess for over a mile. Other than the other odd parts of the course, it was a solid race.