Race Report

I'll have to add the pics later...but here is my quick version of a race report on the Fila Night Run 5k.

Despite the fact that it is almost summer here in good ole South America, yesterday's weather was dreary, gray, cool, and from time to time, wet. Not ideal race conditions but I'd prefer that type of weather to heat and sun beating down on me. It was sprinkling when we left for the race around 6 pm, but stopped by 6:45 when we arrived at the course. We picked up the chip for our shoe and huddled around trying to keep warm. There was some pre-race entertainment-a band, samba dancers, and a group warm up that was reminiscent of the Black Eyed Peas and Oprah flash mob dance. I was totally calm, mostly because I have zero expectations for myself other than FINISH! Probably not the best race strategy...must work on that.

Anyway I decided to start in the green corral with a goal of running the entire way and beating my 5k run from last weekend at 39:05. There was a pace group in front of me, but I lost them as people filed into the corrals at the last minute, so I was on my own. I plugged in my ipod and was off.

It was pretty dark, but I settled into a comfortable rhythm quickly. My biggest hurdle is the mental dialogue I have at the beginning of my runs. It sounds something like this:
Why am I doing this?
Such a bad idea.
I am so slow.
My legs hurt.
I am too sleep deprived to be doing this.
Why? Why? Why?

However, after about the third kilometer I settled down and was feeling pretty good. I saw the fourth kilometer marker up ahead and knew I could go a little faster. Once I got going the "runner's high" kicked in and I flew through the last 500 meters. My final time was 32:05 (a 10:20 mile) and by far my best time in a long, long time. I felt amazing!

Onto next week's 10k!

I'll add the pics tomorrow...Paul has our photo computer right now!