Someone once told me to never write words with extra letters attached (see above: fiyaaa) and I made the conscious decision to ignore them. I want you all to know that I am singing my title to you, like Alicia Keys in Girl on Fire. Can you hear me? Okay, I am done singing now. So, I ran the Earth, Wind, Fire 5k this weekend and am here to report back about it! It was my first officially timed race where there were actually medals for the winners (not that I got a medal..ha!). But that made it more exciting for me than the un-timed fun runs I've done so far. I wish they had a Miss Congeniality award because I totally would have won that.
The race was on campus and there were around 215 people participating, so it wasn't a huge race. It was about 38 degrees F and not too windy, so colder than I'd like not too bad. The race was a 1.55 mile loop that we did twice.
Racers starting out. My friends and I started in the back of the pack so as to not intimidate everyone around us ;)
This is my friend Jen and me at the almost-halfway point. I saw the photographer so I tried to make it look like I was running strong. Turns out I just looked goofy. At least I was smiling--not looking bad enough to make it to the Seriously Ugly Race Pics site. Thank goodness. I know most people are hyper critical of themselves, but now looking at these pictures, I'm pretty sure I get a triple chin when I run. C'est la vie.
Although I have run a 5k in 27 minutes on my own training runs, I have been struggling the past few weeks with endurance and energy, so my goal for this race was under 30 minutes. I was averaging around 9:30-9:40 minute miles. I sprinted the last 0.1 so that I could make my time. I finished at 29'29". Not as fast as I'd like, but I have to keep remembering b a b y s t e p s. I have my whole life to get faster.
Accidentally turned off my Garmin so my 4th lap is all funky.
After the race was the award ceremony. I try not to feel this way, but I get a tad jealous of those girls who win their age group awards. I sound like a bitter old whiner but I used to be fast back in the day (albeit at shorter distances in track). My body looks the same, but it isn't the same because I am much slower. I just hope that one day I can get back some of that speed that I feel I have lost over the past..gah...8 years? There is a chance that I won't get it back though even with more experience, and I need to be happy with whatever pace I find myself at.
As far as what I wore, I was really proud of my selection as far as layering. I wore my nike running tights, a lululemon cool racerback, my target c9 running mittens, my lululemon "what the fluff" earwarmers, and then a very thin avia long sleeved tech shirt. I also wore my new running shoes and they felt great! (Same pair as before but I think pink put some extra pep in my step).
Did you run any races this weekend?
Do you ever turn into the green-eyed monster when you are around a group of runners much faster than yourself?
