Jenks 5k

A few years ago I had 3 students in class all from the same blended family. I've since become friends with their mom and chat with her from time to time. Their older brother is on the cross country team and the team puts on a half marathon and 5k each year as a fundraiser. By the time I heard the date I had already signed up for an evening 5k at the Wicked Wine Run. I knew the Wine Run was more for fun and I wouldn't be trying to run fast but I still figured it wasn't the best idea to double up with a half marathon and 5k in one day. She then reminded me there was also a 5k on race day and I got really excited for that. It was right after the Twilight Thriller where I had a disappointing race that left me wishing I would have a shot at a fast 5k this season before the half marathon. It seemed perfect to support the cross country team, see my previous students, and get a shot at a sub-20 5k. I knew the course was most likely extremely flat and it did not disappoint. Race morning came and I was excited and a bit nervous. My speed work on Tuesday after the 15k had been rough and it's always nice to have a strong speed workout going into a 5k as a confidence boost. I was pretty sure I could run sub-20 but I also wanted it so bad I knew I'd be disappointed if I didn't hit it. My goal was to go out in 6:25 and just try my hardest to maintain pace. I figured if I bombed, I bombed, at least I gave it my all!

My awesome cheering crew for the morning!

I did my mile warm up and then ended up stretching in the bathroom so my muscles would stay warm as I stretched. It was low 50's and I didn't want to stretch outside and risk my muscles getting cold and pulling too much as I stretched. I was still feeling a little tight in my legs but overall pretty good and excited to give the race hell. As I headed toward the front of the race no one seemed interested in being right on the line. I typically hang back a little bit from the line because I'm usually at least 10 runners back. Since no one was going up on the line I went ahead and stepped up there next to a couple men. We took off at the start and I was immediately 5th overall with one woman ahead of me. I looked down at my watch and saw I was running 5:50 pace but told myself not to panic and slow down. If this felt like the race pace it wouldn't make sense to drastically slow down and possibly lose a bunch of time when my Garmin may not be totally accurate. I was glad I didn't let the pace on my Garmin dictate how I ran as it was showing 6:30 pace shortly after that. Going into a turn at about the half mile mark I heard my friend, Roo's, voice. She is a coach for the girls' cross country team but just had a baby in August so I wasn't expecting to see her. I looked up and yelled her name as I excitedly waved to her. She got so excited and yelled out that I was kicking butt. At that point I had passed the woman ahead of me and was running along with one man a bit ahead and two guys directly in front of me. I passed the two guys right before the mile mark which I went through in 6:14.

I was really excited I was already 11 seconds under pace and I was feeling great. There were a couple of really tiny hills on the course and the rest of it was crazy flat. I had been worried about getting lost on the course because looking at all the past race results, the first few runners were really spread out and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to see anyone near me and the course map only showed the half marathon course. Lucky for me there was a lead vehicle that drove along a little bit in front of us the entire race. I pulled up next to the man in front at about the 1.5 mile mark and he went with me initially but then slowly fell off pace. We turned onto a section of the course that overlapped with the half marathon and made sure to stay over to the left as they were running on the right. We went out and back on that road and then my watch beeped for the 2nd mile in 6:19. I was starting to feel tired but also felt like I could maintain the pace and was getting really excited as I was 17 seconds under my goal pace so I was pretty confident I would be under 20 minutes. The whole last mile I kept telling myself how fast I ran the last mile would determine how much under 20 minutes I was able to finish. Before I knew it we were turning onto the road where the track was. I knew we would turn onto the track and run a lap to the finish line. I was so excited as I approached my previous students Luke, Adelaine, and Norah standing with their mom, Danielle. I smiled really big for them before turning onto the track.

Something I had forgotten from running the half marathon a few years ago was what a strange transition it was for my legs moving from the hard pavement on the road to the soft track. The minute I entered the track I could hear Roo cheering for me like crazy. My legs felt weird on the soft track but I told myself it was the last quarter repeat during a speed workout and I really needed to give it hell. During the entire lap Roo was going nuts cheering and I could hear lots of other spectators cheering me on. I pushed it all the way in and smiled as I turned the corner to the straight away and saw 19:40 on the clock and an overall finisher tape stretched across the finish line. I powered all the way through to the finish line for an official finishing time of 19:55. I ran the last 0.18 miles of the course in 5:38 pace which is killer for me! I was actually surprised I had run it that fast as I felt like I couldn't get my legs going that last section on the track. My watch showed I had run a personal best 5k in 19:29! That was exciting to see. Last year at the Jingle Bell 5k I ran a 20:56 but my Garmin showed a 20:26 5k personal best for the race. Then a few weeks later at the Race Into the New Year I ran a 20:29 on the course which was certified and 3.14 miles long. So I feel like it is possible I could run around a 19:30 for a 5k on a course that is a little closer to 3.1 rather than almost 3.2 miles. I was just really glad that I had killed my goal of 6:25 miles as it took a faster pace than that to get under 20 on this course!

 

I love that you can see Roo cheering in the background of this picture with her hands in the air.

The banner I got to run through at the finish line.

6:16 pace is something I definitely didn't expect to see!

Say what?!!?

Danielle was standing at the finish line to congratulate me and gave me a hug. Roo came rushing over and Luke and Adelaine also came over. It was awesome to have so many friends at the race, especially since I'm used to running races with my entire family and was doing this one solo. As I headed over for water I got stopped by people who were just so excited a female had finished first overall. One guy even showed me some cool pictures he had taken and offered to text them to me. Those are the pictures I have of me finishing the race. I stood talking to Luke and Adelaine for quite a while and then jokingly asked them who wanted to run my cool down with me. Luke said, "Let me go ask my mom." Then I ended up with quite the cool down crew, running it with Luke, Norah, and their older brother, Josh. It was so much fun to talk to them as we ran and they were so pumped about my race they were all talking about how many laps they were able to run at the jog-a-thon. That may have been my favorite part of the morning. The race had full sized candy bars so I made sure to grab one of them and enjoyed it later in the day. I got a plaque for finishing first female and a mug with gloves in it for winning my age group. The best reward from the race was running a sub-20 5k for the first time since graduating college. It was an awesome feeling to bust out a time like that after all these years and everything I've put my body through baby-wise. It was a feeling that lifted me up all day long and quite honestly still has me quite excited!