Race Report: JazzFest 5k

Saturday marked my final race in my unofficially titled 6 races in 6 weeks stupidness.  The race was the first annual JazzFest 5k.  JazzFest is a 3 day free jazz festival that has really blown up in recent years.  When I saw they were going to do a 5k this year I was all over it.

Friday night I made my way out to JazzFest with some friends, with a strict midnight bedtime in mind.  Midnight came and went and I was still having a delightful time.  Finally 12:30 rolled around, and I realized I still had a 2 mile walk ahead of me.  Dumb Jerbear.  Luckily I had some competition for the following morning, in the form of a potentially still drunk gent.  I decided ahead of time, that if I lost I would probably retire my running shoes.

Saturday morning I woke up at 7am and felt like crap.  I felt stuffy and like I had been sniffing straight pollen for 72 hours.  After I ate breakfast my stomach thought it would be fun (as well as a confidence booster) to dry heave for 20 minutes.  I grabbed Miss Polly Sunshine (she's been feeling neglected lately) and took off to the race.  I got there plenty early and saw Joseph warming up.  He jogged with me during my warm up and get me pumped up for a PR.  I was hoping for just under 23:30 for the race.  After signing in for the race I ran in to my buddy Matt who was running his first race!!  Somehow he managed to be less nervous than I was....riddle me that one.  Lame.

The race was set to start at 9am, and I knew the temp would be over 80 by then.  I also knew it was going to be humid and not very breezy.  I tend to not do too well in the heat, if you haven't paid attention to me bitching about it extensively thus far this summer.  Looking at the race route, I knew it was going to be flat which would be awesome if I could hack the heat.

Lining up for instructions I saw about 5 or 6 girls who I thought should be able to beat me, so set my goal at top 5 for chicas.  We started off the race, and I was running strong.  There were a couple of girls who shot way out front and then a group of about 5 or 6 that I was running along with.  After the first 1:30 we said good bye to the shade and hello to the sun beating down on us.

Mile 1  7:30

About 1 1/4 miles in to the race I got a horrible side stitch.  I've never gotten a side stitch while racing before, so I didn't really know what to do.  My breathing had been really gaspy because of the humidity levels, so I'm sure that was the cause of it.  I tried to regulate my breathing to make the side cramp go away.  The cramp was only intensifying the pukey feeling that I was having.  For a minute or two I thought about stopping to barf and not finishing.  I figured, worst case scenario I had about 12 minutes of running left and should be able to hack it.

Mile 2 8:05

The second mile was about 6 seconds slower than I wanted it to be, and I knew I had nothing left in my tank for the rest of the race.  I was wiped.  I kept my focus on those in front of me and trying to bridge the gap.  At 1/2 mile out, where I normally start my kick, I was pooped and kickless.  In un-Jerbear-fashion I posted my slowest split for the final mile.  :(

Mile 3 8:08

Also, the course was a full .1 long which at the pace I was running was almost :50.  Ugh.  So annoying. Especially because I'm the queen of running tangents in these shorter races.  Poop nuggets.

.2 1:28 (7:17 pace)

I finished in 25:13 posting my worst 5k time in over a year and a half.  I honestly couldn't have ran faster in that weather, so I'm not bummed in my performance, more bummed that I keep spending money on races that start so late in the day.  If you're not a runner that can "do" heat, DON'T.  Duuuuuh.  :)

I think I finished in the realm of 9th place for females.  I was super bummed after the race because I didn't run well, didn't have a good time, placed lower than I thought I had, and thought potentially-still-drunk-guy had beaten me.  Luckily I was surprised to find out that I had actually beat him by a ways, and a guy wearing his exact outfit was the one that passed me.  Winner winner.  :)  Sometimes life is all about the consolation prizes......

So I may be done with the 5k for the year as I'm diving (or technically already dove) into half marathon training, and will be embarking on marathon training this fall.  If that is the case, let it be known that I *will* be coming for 22:xx in 2011.  :)