My first podium finish!

Monarchs in Motion 5k
2008-05-17
Apex, North Carolina
United States
active.com
55F / 13C
Sunny

Run - 5k
Total Time = 19m 48s
Overall Rank = 8/151
Age Group = 30-39
Age Group Rank = 3/33

Pre-race routine:

Peanut butter-banana and honey sandwich, OJ at 5am for breakfast, then back to bed for a while. Woke up at 6:45, out the door at 7:20, short run up to the race site, close to home.

Event warmup:
Light jog from home to the race site, then engaged in some stretching. One Orange Burst Gu 20 minutes before race start.

Run

Comments:
My first podium finish, and a 5k PR. I think I could do better than this, but when I realized I was going to go under 20, I eased off some. Especially in mile 2, when I passed Travis (of course, he WAS pushing the jogging stroller!)

What would you do differently?:
Don't look at my watch. Don't look back. Don't slow down on the downhills. I got passed 50 feet from race finish for position.

Post race

Warm down:
Stretched, walked around some. Ate a banana, drank some gatorade. Paul came to watch with the girls, and he spurred me on at just the right time (the last push up the hill into the finish).

What limited your ability to perform faster:
Running too slowly downhills, went out a little fast on the first mile, my left hamstring playing up a little.

Event comments:
A fun race, the first annual. I'll train on the course, and do it again next year. My goal for this year was to run a sub-20:00 5k. Now I've done it, and can work on getting my 10k and 10-miler in line.

Last updated: 2008-05-15 1:00 AM Running
00:19:48 | 03.1099999 miles | 06m 22s min/mile
Age Group: 3/33
Overall: 8/151
Performance: Good
5:54 mile 1
6:27 mile 2
7:26 mile 3.1

Mile 1 was a little too quick, but I did that to put a little separation on some guys on a hilly section. I was holding the hills pretty good, but I just don't run fast downhill for some reason!

Course: Hilly. I didn't particularly train for this race, but felt if I could hold on for mile 1, the others would come. Mile 1 was too fast, but it felt pretty good. I let mile 2 and 3 fall off a little, but was still only 4 seconds behind my expected race time. Oh, and did I mention it was a PR? :)

Post race
Overall: Below average
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes

Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 4