So a little background: my fastest 5k was from May, 33:30. I beat it by one second accidentally during a 10k in October, so you think I could have beaten it by now. I've only raced one 5k since that 10k, and I was fully expecting to PR that one. Instead, I was a minute slower, a combination of lots of people in my way (it was a Turkey Trot) and some nasty hills.

So today I was really hoping for a PR. I've been pretty miserable the past two weeks from low mileage and persistent ITB issues. I can manage 3 miles most of the time though, and it doesn't hurt as bad if I run quickly. I grabbed a coffee from DD and played some pump music on the way to the race to get the adrenaline going.

we had a 9am start. It was 20 degrees but it was actually nice: no wind at all and the sun was shining. I saw daisymae in the corral and said hi to her, then we were off. I knew this course would be mostly flat so I really tried to push it. My first surprise was looking down at my watch right in the beginning and seeing 8:30 pace. This is incredibly fast for me, but it didn't feel hard. Still, I reigned myself back.

mile 1: 9:51. No idea. I used my Garmin's virtual pacer for the first time set at 10:45 (which would have gotten me a PR) and it kept squawking at me that I was ahead of pace. I tried to slow down a bit but I was feeling good so I mostly rolled with it. By the way this is my fastest mile ever.

Mile 2: 10:08 some hills here, but the slowest pace I had was my goal pace, and that was up the hills. I'd relax on the way up and pick up speed back down.

Mile 3: 10:08. One last hill and then downhill and flat. I knew at that point I would PR and let the adrenaline take over.

.05: 35 seconds. Didn't See this until after, but yeah, course was short. The if ish line was in a parking lot so I told myself to sprint the second I hit the lot. I kind of feel bad because I zoomed by some other girl but it felt good.

Then I saw the clock: 30:27. A PR by three minutes!!!!! I had no idea that I would do that well. if the course hadn't been short it would probably have been around 31, but that's still a huge PR. i guess sub 30 is closer than I thought!!

quite a few people PRed on this one today. Great race conditions. My hip kills right now but so worth it Thanks for reading!

Great job lilac, you should be so happy.  Well deserved PR and awesome negative splits run like a pro too!

Congrats on the PR, that's a nice improvement.

Great job, lilac!  Nice even pace, too!  Way to rock it.

Yay!  Congrats on your new PR, way to go!

W00t! Congrats on the shiny new PR!

Congrats on the huge PR!  Very happy for you.

A three freaking minute PR in a 5K, despite all the IT band stuff you've been battling?  How amazing are you????  The first mile, being a PB mile to boot????  Awesome!  You even had gas to sprint in at the end.  I know the course was a hair short, but clearly you know now that you have gotten tons faster.  You are SO going sub-30:00 in Spring, girly!!!  Congratulations!