Notes
Spring Fling 5K - Third in age group! For the most part, I stuck to my game plan and didn't start out too fast and finally was able to average a sub 10 min pace for the first time ever for a 5K run! This was a unique race where females got a 2 min head start over the guys (last year it was 3 mins) so I immediately threw out any chance of placing out the window. For the first half mile which is on the track, I kept my cool and stuck to the pace I was comfortable with and it didn't long for the fast guys to catch up and pass me like I was standing still. The first half of this race is downhill and the second half is up hill then a brief downhill before a steep hill right before the finish line so it's a tough course and the hills can be brutal if you're not prepared for them!
I did well running up the first hill until I got to the steepest part and had to walk for about a minute to recover. Ran the rest of the way to the final hill. I knew it was coming and I knew I had trained for hills but it still got me at the end. At 3 miles, I pretty much had nothing left...so I thought. I heard a guy coming up from behind me and I was like no way am I letting him pass me with .1 (so I thought) to go. Dug deeper than I ever have before and gave it one final push to the finish line. Garmin has this course a little longer than a 5K but still with a 31:09 finish, it's a new PR and not bad on this course especially considering last year I finished in 35:20 since I had not trained for the hills.
Anyways back to what I thought was no chance to place in my age group because there is no gender separation. Two guys finished ahead of me so I placed third in my age group meaning that if it was a regular race and there was gender separation, I would of finished first in my age group! Not sure how many was in my age group but I don't care, 3rd place is still 3rd place!