Virtual 5K Turkey Trot Nov 25, 2010

Nov 25, 2010....Virtual 5K Turkey Trot...18* no wind....gear: headband, fleece neck gaiter, gloves, tshirt, LS shirt, jacket, shorts, Chill Chasers tights AND Fila tights, hydration belt, tunes and about 427 tissue....

This morning I participated 'virtually' in a 5K with a bunch of other people from the beginner's forum at RunnersWorld.com. You could pick which distance you wanted to participate in, and then post your time when you finished.
I chose the 5K as that is the time I most want to improve on (and that I feel I can survive 'racing' without having an aneurysm).

I had wondered whether I was going to be able to run this morning as yesterday was a gloomy yucky, cold day with some mist, so the ground was pretty wet. It was also pretty cold overnight so I was convinced it would be too slick to run this morning. But I was optomistic and set my alarm for 6:45 this morning and got all ready to go.

Looked out my front door...and the ground is perfect!! No sign of a slippery surface anywhere, totally dry.

It was pretty chilly out but I felt I was dressed well for it. Was chilly, but not overly so. ( The only strange thing was, the bottom of my thumb on my left had kept getting numb and tingly the whole run- SUPER annoying!)
Walked down to the bottom of my hill and heard the little gun go off in my head.

I knew I was starting off too fast, but this WAS a race afterall, and apparently starting off too fast is what I do =) Being that this WAS a race, I created a whole slew of racers in my mind to try to pick off.
There was the fat guy....the 60 year old lady....the gal w/the jogging stroller....the pair of 8 year old kids....oh and the scrawny super fast high school kid running in his cargo shorts and VANS.

Anyway, so I got to going and about 1/2 way thru the first mile realize that I am going pretty fast (for me at least), so I had to slow it down for about 15 seconds, then I picked it up again. The only time I looked at my watch was around the 1 mile split and it said 8:40! I was thrilled as my last 5K had my average pace time at 8:52. So I was unknowingly banking some time as I REALLY wanted to at least run it in the same time as my last 5K race (27:30)...but I didnt want to disappoint myself if I didnt, so I told myself that I was just going to shoot for sub30.

I was sure glad that not many people were out and about on a morning like this as I was QUITE a sight I'm sure. TOTALLY looked like a fish out of water trying to suck in as much air as I could. Had to spit a bunch of times as that phlemy feeling I get in my mouth is a total distraction when I am trying to throwdown some serious race-pace. Some of those spits didn't want to leave my lips though, so THAT was a bit embarrassing, but again, thankfully, no one to witness that but a few dogs and THEY can't laugh at me behind my back...

So I get to where I think 2.5 miles is and my watch says 21 minutes or something...a bit too much of my brain was on a one-way train to my legs though so I couldnt really do the math, but I remember thinking 'oh, so I AM going to get a sub30!' never mind that I would get a sub 27 which was UNTHINKABLE to me starting out. I was going at a very fast clip the last 1/2 mile and I got within about 50 yds of the finishline....I had already picked off the fat guy and the jogging stroller lady (only because she had to stop and change a poopy diaper, wash her hands, breastfeed her baby and then burp him), but the 8yr old kids were still in my sights (cargo shorts high school kid had already finished and was eating a bagel with 60yr old lady who turned out to be his grandma and she beat him by 2 minutes-speedy grandma)...so I turned on what little I had left in the rocket boosters and blasted right thru them (then turned around and stuck out my tongue in true grown-up fashion) and to the finish line. Stop my watch....

25:30!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (8:13 pace)

WHAT?????? I KNEW I left it all out there as I had the 'oh my word, I am SO going to puke FER SURE this time' feeling for about 2 minutes. BOY do those 2 minutes suck.
After that I felt like like clicking my heels all the way home.

After I had been home for a few hours I thought 'wow, did I REALLY run that fast? What if I charted the course wrong?????' I got all nervous so I charted the course at mapmyrun AGAIN, as zoomed in as you can get....and yep, all 3.1 miles were there =)

So here's the 5K run down since I started running (which was in July)
Aug 28 Ted E Bear Hallow 32:19
Oct 3 Race for the Cure 29:00
Oct 30 Red Kettle Run 27:30
Nov 25 Virtual 5K Turkey Trot 25:30

I'm rockin' this running thing, ya'll.