Orthopedic One Spirit Sprint 5k

Pre-race view from COSI.

I can't remember what brought about me signing up for this race. I receive a bazillion emails throughout the week about various races in the area. I must've been looking through and saw one for $25. I hate when a 5k is more than $25!! (cheap ass). When I saw a free kids run attached, I was in! James loves to go to these races. I was also a little curious about my current fitness level. My runs seem all over the place right now, and I wondered how well I could do with a 5k.

Flat James.

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It was a gorgeous, chilly morning in Columbus. It actually felt like fall! I was a little concerned about getting Ruthie out, but it felt perfect in the sun. It was mid 40s at the start which is PERFECT for racing. I warmed up in warm gear and was able to strip for the race. Booty shorts and short sleeve, baby!

 

Obviously, it's hard to make goals when you have no idea what you can do (i.e. injury and having a baby!). Based on stroller 5ks and recent training runs, I was hoping to average 8 minute miles...hopeful but not confident. After my fartlek workout last week, I thought I would likely die trying to get 8 minute miles. I decided to try it for mile one and just go from there.

My boy was so excited to be at the race with mommy!

After the start, I resisted the urge to go out too fast. I let all the teenagers take that role for me! I knew this course would have some inclines so I kept that in mind. (for those familiar with the usual Genoa route, this race was basically the same but backwards). I kept an eye on my Garmin to make sure I wasn't going out to fast and staying around 8. When I peeked, I was usually between 8-8:15. That concerned me a bit because I wanted to be more consistently at 8. To my surprise, mile one beeped to reveal [7:47]! I must have taken advantage of the declines while conquering those inclines without slowing down too much. I dedicated this mile to my friend, Suzy, who was running the Chicago marathon. When I felt I was failing mentally, I repeated her name. Overall, I would say this mile felt fairly comfortable. I was pushing it, as you should in a race, but not so much that I wanted to pass out....comfortably hard, I would say.

 

After seeing my split for mile one, I decided I would slow down the next mile. There was no reason for me to kill myself this early...save that for mile three! Since I had a faster start than expected, I thought I would keep this one around 8 minutes. After my 1.5 mile warm up and the first mile, I was finally loosening up. My recovery after each incline was improving. Even though I was starting to feel better, this mile seemed to last FOREVER! When I was becoming annoyed, I thought about my dear friend, Dani. She was about 30 minutes into her marathon and I'm over here complaining?! At that point, I quit whining and finished out the mile in [7:55].

Then there's mile three...oh boy. I wasn't yet at the point that I wanted to die, but I knew that moment would be coming soon. I had two things motivating me through this mile: my friend Theresa (who ended up getting a 3:32 PR that day) and the fact that my other two miles were sub 8 minutes. Theresa never EVER gives up. She gives every race her absolute best. I wasn't going to allow myself to see the number eight in front of my final mile. Something came over me and I felt a lot of energy the first half mile. After that, I was close to hitting my limit. I didn't want to quit but really wanted it to be over with! As I looked ahead at the rest of the course, I saw a really nice decline. We had to run up just slightly before hitting that spot (about a quarter mile from the finish. I decided to take advantage of the  downhill to make sure I got another sub 8 mile. After a sharp turn, it was a flat, straight path to the finish. I can't say I had my best kick, but I did what I could in that moment. As I was approaching the finish line (7:13-7:19 on the video),  I saw the clock click to 24 minutes. I knew I was slightly behind the clock because of where I started. I was hoping I beat it!! When I looked at my watch, it read 23:59.2...but what would my chip time say?! It was killing me!!

I went on my phone to look up the live results:

23:59.7!!

SOOOO CLOSE! I was on cloud nine. I couldn't believe I averaged sub 8. My friend, Amanda, predicted 7:54 average and I thought she was insane. My excitement turned to annoyance for a few minutes when I realized I was 4th in my age group. I missed getting an award by 14 seconds. Even more annoying is that they only had three age groups: 18 and under, 19-39, and 40 up. What the hell?! Of course I was in the hardest age group! Ugh.  If I thought I had a chance in hell to get top three in my age group, I would have made myself run 15 seconds faster. Hindsight.

James finishing up his race...he gets a little distracted along the way.

Overall, I'm ecstatic about my performance. I never could have imagined running this time after what I've been through this year. It was very encouraging and the perfect celebration of Ruthie turning 2 months. It's about two and a half minutes off of my adult PR, but close to my stroller 5k PR...I'll take it! I'm very excited about continuing my no plan running plan and increasing my mileage for my marathon in March. I still have three more races this year to continue testing my fitness. Hopefully I'll even be able to run a decent half in December!

My excited little Roop.