Alright! I officially trained all season for a race without getting hurt and nailed it!

Background: Every October my club puts on a women-only race benefiting the Ronald McDonald House of Providence. Since the cause is near and dear to my heart and I know the course like the back of my hand, I chose this race as my goal 5K for the season, with the knowledge that since it's "just" a 5K, if I blew it I'd be able to pick another race a few weeks later and try again. This year I've learned to manage my previously-very-injury-prone legs, however the rest of my body decided I needed another monkey wrench thrown in my plans and I developed an umbilical hernia in early August. I scheduled my surgery for after the race and the somewhat low-key PR attempt became a little more serious, knowing that the rest of my fall season was toast.

Training: Per my coach's instructions, I've been holding steady at 25-30mpw all summer, with two quality days, a long run, and 2-3 easy/recovery runs for the last two months. Much as I really want to be a 6-7 day a week runner, 5 days a week has been my sweet spot in terms of maintaining quality and getting enough recovery, so I've mostly stuck with that. I'll try the 6-7 day thing again when I'm base building over the winter and don't have all the quality work to recover from.

The race: I warmed up for about 15 minutes with a couple strides at the end and lined up near the start. I didn't want to start at the very front since there are some REALLY fast women and I am definitely not one of those, but I heard a woman just to my right telling someone else that she was a walk/jogger so I inched up a little more. A horn blast signaled the start and off we went!

My plan was to start off fast, almost too fast, so as to not leave time on the course in the first mile like I've always done, then settle into a pace that I could maybe sustain and that seemed to work out. Things thinned out pretty quickly after the start - I only really had to snake around one person in the first quarter mile or so. I got passed a few times in the first mile but passed several more people who faded quickly. My watch beeped for the first mile split at 7:23, but I passed the first mile marker at 7:27.

After the mile marker I slowed a bit but kicked the effort up a notch again after seeing a number starting with an 8 in the lap pace section of my watch. For the rest of the second mile my internal dialogue was pretty much just "ugggghhhhh". Just tried to stay relaxed, no wasting energy with unnecessary tension! Played leapfrog with a few people, kept a few others in my sights up ahead. Garmin says I ran the second mile in 7:50, somehow it lined back up with the course markers because it beeped exactly as I passed the timer at mile 2.

Two thirds of the way done, just need to hang on and not die! I legitimately thought at this point "well, if I collapse and die, at least I died doing something I loved... Wait, why do I love this again?" Pushed on, less than a mile left - not even 10 more minutes left at this pace! I give a couple little surges to pass people, I see a young girl walking up ahead and pass her too. At exactly 2.6 I start making an emergency puking strategy. Can't get it on the coach, have to wait until I'm out of the finish chute... Around the corner and uphill to the entrance to the stadium, the course finishes on Brown University's track. I pick it up going uphill, tear around the corner into the stadium and let it all out when I hit the track. The girl who I passed walking outkicked me in a huge way - danged youngsters!! According to Garmin I was mid- to low-6:00 range for the last 0.5 and she sprinted past me like it was nothing! Not even mad, just awed Crossed the finish line in 23:36 according to the official results, 23:38 on my watch since I made sure I'd sprinted past the line before hitting stop. Mile 3 was 7:34 though I wasn't looking at that point, last 0.13 was at a 6:34 pace, guess I can be proud of my kicking ability even when I don't start out conservatively! 48th out of 468 finishers, I didn't even come close to top 10 for 20-29 AG in a pretty fast field. The top 3 overall (all women, mind you) were under 18:00 and top 5 in my AG were under 20:00. Another goal I had for this race was to be in the top half of finishers from my club, and I did that - think I counted it as 15/36?

All in all a very successful day! Running a 10K next week, then surgery, then on to winter base building! I have plans to start tackling longer distances next year, time to get comfortable in the 40+mpw range

Great training and great racing, Lauren! If you were thinking about a puking strategy, you can be sure that you were giving it your all, you left nothing on the course.  And what awesome ranking! Top 10% overall, after a return to running due to an injury. Bravo! Is the hernia painful at the moment? This made me laugh: Two thirds of the way done, just need to hang on and not die! I legitimately thought at this point "well, if I collapse and die, at least I died doing something I loved... Wait, why do I love this again?"  Great RR, thanks for sharing!

Congrats on the huge PR!

WTG!

Love how you laid everything out there on the course today.  That took some serious guts.  Congratulations, and good luck next week!

Great job!  Very happy to see your training doing so well!

Well done!!  You and I are right about at the same place, and I am also looking to "up" my mileage into the 40s going into next year.  I love that you were making a puking strategy, haha!  And glad that you didn't have to use it.    Congrats again; go hammer that 10k!!

Awesome job! I loved reading your report - it felt like I was right there with you. It's great that your training has paid off. That's too bad about needing surgery, but at least you're optimistic and still looking forward. Good luck with your 10k, surgery, and winter base building!