My apologies as this did not get written or posted yesterday. I was absolutely EXHAUSTED yesterday afternoon and tried to spend my time resting for today’s AIDS Walk/Run 10k, and of course that led to me falling asleep! Sorry about that!
For the RUNapalooza I opted to go without headphones. I mean the entire premise to the race is being able to run to local bands and musicians. It also allowed me to be a bit more of a people watcher, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing either. It was definitely interesting to walk around before the race got started and see the way people were preparing, sensing both confidence and concern on those who maybe were tackling their first 5k race. There were the little kids getting ready for their 1-mile fun run, and then some of the older kids who were getting ready to tackle perhaps their first 5k.
This was the second time I ran this race, and would be the third time on this course in a year. Last year I came out too fast and ran the first mile in roughly 7:30, and then fell off from there, surpassing a 9:00 pace on the final mile. My goal this year was closer to an 8:00 first mile, and again the second mile, and hoping to stay around that for the final mile, and really just stay consistent. The course isn’t the hilliest course, but of course it has its uphills and downhills, but of course the up always seem to outweigh the down. I successfully ran the first mile in 8:00 even, and then my second mile in 7:57. I was so happy to see that 7:57 and staying on pace, but unfortunately I fell off for that final mile. I want to say it had more to do with the long uphill that met me at the start of that mile, but I believe it also had to do with the part that I just lost my focus. I definitely started hitting a point that I wanted to quit and I blame that on just the typical push I do for myself when racing, but also my lack of training from the pulled quad muscle. My final minute was 8:48…way off the mark. None the less I finished at 26:17 (8:28 pace), and that is a new PR for the race and course…just not a 5k overall.
Overall it was a great race and I look forward to running it again next year. I can say that I definitely enjoyed the Drummers for Runners group that was playing, and just wish that the solo musicians had actually sang music instead of just playing the guitar. It’s most likely a personal preference to me, but the plain guitar playing just wasn’t enough for me.