Race Report: USF 3k

AKA the time I thought I was signed up for a 5k road race and was actually signed up for a 3k XC race.

But let's back up, shall we?

I freaked out all of Tuesday about the 5k. I realized I had a rib out of place, and that was what was effecting my breathing on my runs Friday through Monday. Kyle was able to crack my back Monday night, and I was able to take in full breaths, finally, but I still had tenderness in my chest. On top of that, it was storming all day and there were high chances of thunderstorms during the race. Maybe I'm not supposed to run?

I went to the race anyway, handed over my money, grabbed a bib, and jotted down my name. I then asked the gal where the 5k started.
To which she responded, "You mean the 3k?"
No. 5k please.
"Oh, there's only a 3k tonight. Two weeks ago was 5k, and two weeks from tonight is a 5k. Tonight is a 3k."
Oh. Auto PR. Alright.

I called my co-worker Emily who recently started running and told her she should come and run because it was only a 3k, and I knew she could do it. I went out and ran 2 miles to warm up and then did my glute exercises and hip exercises. Before too long, it was ready to start!

We spent the first 200m on the track, and my goodness were people off to a fast start! I started fairly conservatively, but even that was a 6:50 pace, 6:19 max pace. Oops. Pull in the reigns, Jerbear! Immediately everyone shot past me, and I seemed to be fairly on my own. According to McMillan, whom I consulted frantically pre-race to see what I'd be capable of running for a 3k, I was shooting for a 7:30 pace. Until I realized we were running a legit XC course. And it'd been raining all day.

Ok.

So the grass was slick, but runnable. We had two laps around their XC loop. My first mile clocked at 7:57. I had it in my head I was running 1.75 miles until a mile and a quarter in to the race when I re-did the math, and somehow landed on 1.94 (still wrong), but I'd already started my "kick" at 1.25 so I just kept pushing. During this section I crept up on two females and finally passed them.

Once we were on our way back from the XC course, through the gravel parking lot, to the track, I tried to really push, but the next person in front of me was crossing the finish line as I had about 350m left, on the track! My Fave! This is where it comes in handy to have a previous race time to run down! With about 200m to go I realized I could maybe come in under 15 minutes if I really pushed, so I pushed as hard as I could.

My time was a 14:58 for a pace of 7:57. With a finishing pace of 6:38. Wahoo!

Even cooler is my first mile's pace was 7:57, and the .88's pace was also a 7:57. Talk about even pacing!!

And as I crossed the finish line, I was handed a $10 gift card for my favorite juice place for taking 3rd place for females.

So while this wasn't exactly what I had planned, I had a lot of fun out there, and enjoyed running hard for a couple of miles. It also gives me the confidence that I could run close to that pace for an additional 1.22 miles on the road, which was my goal, and gives me the green light for my half marathon goal time later this month.

I sent this picture to Emily earlier this summer, and will randomly sing it to her when I'm trying to convince her to sign up for a race.

Well as of Tuesday, I was able to make our own mini meme. Because, ya know? It doesn't HAVE to be a 5k.....