Notes
Well that was a nice change of pace in every way! Ran the HRC Valentine's Day 5K and placed 2nd girl. What a surprise. Had a hard run yesterday, showed up late, didn't stretch and didn't warm up. Guess I am just in a torture-myself-state-of-mind. Went off fast when the gun went off though (like a rookie!) and was sucking wind straight away. At the half mile mark I realized I was going way too fast and had to slow a bit just to catch my breath. Pushed until the one-mile mark and saw I ran a 7:30 first mile. Crazy. There were not too many girls in front of me I didn't think and so I kept pushing as hard as I could stand. I passed my friend Jen which gave me a real lift and saw at the turn around that there were only 3 girls in front of me. I decided than that I would work hard for one of those spots and concentrated on picking off the girl in the back of that pack. I got her right at the 2-mile mark and was happy and then thought I would just try to hang on to that spot until the end. (I kept glancing over my left shoulder to see if her shadow was catching me back). At this point I figured here that the race was as good as over but so much went on in the last mile!
Without really trying I started closing on the 2nd place girl. What a surprise. I was energized by this in spite of the fact I was starting to feel really sick. I passed her - decisively! - as we took the turn towards town at 2.5 and then there was only one girl in front of me. I felt so awful and didn't think I could pass her but I was closing so thought I would give it a go. Ran out of real estate but was close(ish) as we crossed the finish line. What a thrill. Who knew there could be so much drama in such a short distance?
Almost puked in parking lot but very happy with my time and my finish place. I am chagrined that I did not prepare properly. Any race, even a short one, deserves good pre-race behavior. Next time for sure.