Jenks 5k

Less than a week back to running after my knee injury/stitches (read more here if you missed it) I ran past a former student while out running. He was in my class in 1st grade and is now a senior in high school and runs on the cross country and track teams. He stopped me and asked if I was running the 5k or half marathon at the Jenks Half. I told him I was just coming back from having stitches in my knee so it hadn't been on my radar. He said I should come and I couldn't say no, so I signed up for a 5k with about 2 weeks back running under my belt. In 2016 I ran the 5k and he was there spectating because his older brother was on the cross country team and running the half marathon. He and his sisters were so proud that I won overall, male or female, and they all ran my cool down after the race with me. So this race has a special place in my heart due to that. If it weren't for him, there was no way I would have chosen to run a 5k this soon after 2.5 weeks off running.

My winnings!

I think due to walking weird to keep from bending my left knee, when I started running again I had a lot of pain in my right glute. I was doing my physical therapy exercises every night and it was still hurting on all of my runs and for most of the day. Finally, the week of the Jenks 5k I felt like my left knee was healed enough and able to bend enough to add yoga back into my routine. It wasn't an immediate fix, but within days, the combination of physical therapy and yoga had the pain mostly in check. Friday evening before the Saturday race I felt amazing on my run. Up until then, I was planning for a time in the 23:00-24:00 minute range and was hoping I could be under 24 minutes. I felt so good during that run, I thought I might be able to hold 7:00 pace for the race and I got really excited. The big event at this race is the half marathon so the 5k is usually pretty small and not super competitive, hence me winning overall with a 19:55 in 2016. I knew there was a chance I could be the top female finisher in the 5k.

The morning of the race I got up at 6:00, got ready, did a pre-run yoga video, ate an almond butter biscuit, and drank some coffee. I already had my bib because I picked it up on Thursday after work, so I could just park and head out for my warm up. The 5k started at 7:45 but the half started at 7:30 and I wanted to see Luke and cheer him on as he started his race. So I ran a bit of a warm up and stopped back by the starting line to cheer for him and then ran a little bit more of a warm up. I decided to run a few strides in my warm up to get my legs going a bit before the race and I felt great for all of it! At the start line, not many people were wanting to be up front and I knew it was a gun start with a chip finish, so I went right up to the front. We took off and there were some high school aged boys out ahead along with a high school aged girl who I passed pretty much right away. My pace felt fast, but definitely something I could hold for the race. I felt really confident in my position as first female by the time I hit the mile mark. My first mile was 6:47 and I was feeling good! 

I had been slowly reeling in a boy in a Sandites jersey (Sand Springs High School) and at the mile mark I caught up to him. There was a very large gap from him to the boy ahead of him so I decided to tuck in with him and ride it out with him until the turn around. I didn't remember the course from running it before, but based on what the race director said at the start, I thought it was an out and back because he mentioned a turn around. I decided I would just hang with him until the turn around and then pick it up for the 2nd half of the race. When we made it to the out and back section, I realized we were significantly over halfway, I think it was around 1.8 miles in. When I realized that I was thankful to be closer to the finish than I thought, but I was bummed I didn't have as much time to make up for slowing a bit. 

My 2nd mile was 7:12. I took off with a mile to go and the boy went with me, which was helpful and helped me really push the pace. The race finishes with a lap on the track and I figured he would out kick me on the track so my plan was to hang with him as long as I could. It worked and I was able to push back down to 7:04 for my last mile. When we hit the track, the boy pulled away from me. I heard the announcer say the first female finisher was coming through and it was going to be close, she might be able to break 22 minutes. I really wanted to break 22 minutes and gave it everything I had. My last 0.15 of the race was 6:37, but I didn't quite make it. My official finishing time was 22:01. I was proud of running 7:00 pace and hadn't lost as much fitness with my time off as I expected. I was really excited about it and also fired up to break 22 minutes. A friend invited me to come run a 5k a friend of hers is a race director for when I had stitches in my knee and I told her I would think about it once I could run again. After this race I decided to go for it. I'm excited to run the race tomorrow and see if I can run under 22 minutes with a more consistent race. My critique of this race was that I slowed quite a bit in the 2nd mile, but I didn't regret making that decision so I would have someone to run with. I knew being a bit out of shape, the 2nd half of this race was going to hurt and it was so much more fun to run when I had someone to run with. I was 5th out of 79 overall and 1st out of 43 women. I was 3 minutes ahead of the 2nd place female!

I grabbed a water bottle and then took off for a cool down. I wanted to get my cool down in before Luke finished his half marathon so I could cheer for him. When I got back to the track from my cool down, the race director asked if I got my overall award. I told him I hadn't and he apologized. I told him it was my fault because I took off on my cool down right away. I got my awards and then picked up some food. They had food from Taziki's and donuts from Quik Trip. I got to see Luke finish. We chatted and then he walked with me to my car so he could give me a senior poster. I took pictures of him finishing, but didn't even think to get a picture together. He suggested it and I was so glad he did because I made a little side by side comparison from the 2016 picture and the picture from this year. It's such a sweet memory and so crazy to see how much he has grown!