USF Community 5k Race Report

I had been sick all week, staying home from work Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, but was determined to run the 5k on Saturday because I figured it would be the last of the season (unless I wanted to run with a snow s

hovel, that is). Friday night, I went out with one of my favorite people (and founder of Team Green) Melissa, for some italian style pizzas.  As always, when eating pizza, I was craving beer, so I decided to have a delicious Fat Tire also.  Carb up, right?  :) After dinner, I still had a bottomless pit for a stomach, so we decided to go to a fancy restaurant for some dessert.  We split a delicious tiramisu and a creme brulee.  YUM.  The dessert may or may not have been accompanied by Fat Tire #2.  And then it was off to bed, but not before laying out my race clothes (reminding me to charge my Garmin, that would've SUCKED!).

I woke up bright and early Saturday morning to eat some

 breakfast and check the weather report trying to decide what to wear.  When I got to the race, I saw my parents pull in right before me.  They are VERY punctual people.  I decided to wear my fleece because it was pretty darn cold out.  When I looked at the race route I realized it was some ridiculous criss crossing double loop style route.  I was already annoyed and hadn't even started running yet.  :p  My dad came to collect my layer of warmth right before the race started and my mom snapped a shot.  It looks like we're talking race strategy....

Dad:  Here's what you do.....you get out fast, pick up some speed in the middle, and finish with a STRONG KICK!

My dad was a sprinter back in the day too, so he's as clueless about distance/endurance racing as I am.  :)

We started the race on the track running a lap and a half.  I lined up on the inside, and stuck there the whole time.  I'm not running farther than 3.1!!  I got out to a pretty quick start, and from the beginning I was the 5th girl and around 10th overall.  The two gals that are in the left of this photo ended up winning the race taking 1st and 2nd overall.  They are a mother daughter duo (ya, I googled them post race).  The mom is 52 and still has Drake Relay records, that her daughter, 16, is trying to catch.  CRAZINESS.  (Sorry for the underline, my Mac won't let me un-underline....grr)

I really enjoyed running on the track, but the runners thinned out asap.  It did allow my madre to snap a bunch of pics though.  Score.  :)

This silly girl thought she could pass me.  Yes go ahead.... and do it while you're on the curve too, might as well run a little out of your way for your effort.  She decided not to....heehe.

After we left the track it thinned out BIG time.  It was a super confusing course through muddy/pot hole ridden parking lots of a football stadium.  Not impressed.  You didn't run more than 4 strides without making an awkward turn.

There were football players standing at every turn pointing which direction we were supposed to go in, oh hey!  another mud puddle, sweet race route.  Grr.

One point for the course was that my mom could stand in one spot and see me 12389237492837 times.  Also, my dad could sit in the truck staying warm (because the route was IN A PARKING LOT) and cheer me on.

About halfway through I realized that a PR was out of the question for the day, and set my sights on coming in under 25 minutes.  My ab started hurting pretty bad, but I was able to do some weird breathing pattern to lessen the pain.  I hope I can remember what that was.  That would be convenient.

This is the one and only person to pass me during the race.  I think being in such a small race field (and not being able to see ANYONE, other than the person directly in front of me) really made me not push as hard as I usually do.  I'm such a competitive person, and that usually pulls me through in a race, because I'm constantly trying to catch people.  I knew the girl in front of me was running exactly the same pace as me, and was too far in front to catch given how much of the race was left, so I just settled in at my pace instead of pushing it.  Crappy.

I actually heard my mom yell out after she took this pictures, "Oh my gosh, that was a good picture!"  After the race, she said she liked it because you could really see how I was gritting my teeth.  Umm...mom, close ups of my face are not really what I'm going for in race pictures.  I would much prefer you snap shots that are full body and make me look FAST!  :)

The crappy part of the double loop race, I totally lapped this guy.  :(

And the we finished with another couple laps on the track.  Somehow my usual kick never showed up.  My lungs hurt BAD, and I suppose being sick all week probably played a role in that.

My mom always seems to get a good shot of my butt during races.  :p

Here I am just shy of the finish line (I think....)

I finished in 24:41 for a pace of 7:58.  It was my 3rd fastest 5k time.  I was bummed because I had really wanted to PR one final time for the 2009 running season.  With all the factors of the day, being sick, cold cold weather, and crappy running route, I'm actually pretty proud of my time.  And this is the ONLY race I've run in 2009 that hasn't been a PR, so I should be really proud of all those that I've had throughout the year.

My splits for the race:

1.  7:52

2.  8:06

3.  8:08 (uh...ya not the usual Jeri finish)

.1  :34 (7:05 pace)

I came in 5th overall for women and 13th overall.  I'm not sure how I did for my age group, because I forgot to check that info after the race yesterday.  I know that 2 of the girls in front of me (mentioned above) weren't in my AG, and the 2 others were either in their 20's or early 30's.  So I'm anywhere from 1st to 3rd in my AG.

I pulled up my race results from the only other race I've done in similar conditions (actually it was warmer for this race back in March) and I totally beat THAT time by over a full minute, so that's totally a success in my book.  

After the race, while walking to my car, Melissa and I found a dumpster that was FULL of old cheer and dance trophies.  Of course I had to take some pictures to make it look like I won sweet trophies from the race.  Please enjoy.