5K Recap - Shelby's Wish June 12, 2010

First of all, I am a day late, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY Tall Mom who also happened to have a birthday on my anniversary! The hubby and I just exchanged cards and went out to eat, but had a great time.

Okay...now a 5K recap. You know how you read about that race? The one that was awful for a thousand reasons and nothing is working in your favor? I had never had that race until Saturday night.

The race began at 8 pm and it was 96 degrees. I am serious. It was 96 degrees and HUMID. Definitely not ideal race conditions. In addition to this crappy weather that Mother Nature blessed us with, about an hour before the race, I had to duck into a pharmacy due to Mother Nature feeling especially generous. That should have been my first clue to just go home. :)

I have never ran a night race before and I was so worried about eating light before the race that I really don't think I ate enough. I was wiped. (Could have been the 2 hours of shopping previous...who knows?)

Anyway, I finished in a time of 31:37. How awful is that? That is slower than my very first 5K. About halfway through the race I started taking tons of walking breaks and decided to just finish.

Now, I have to be honest and say that I haven't exactly been kicking out the running or anything. In fact, I have barely done anything and I know that was part of the problem. I did feel better that a guy I know was 4 minutes (!!) from his normal time due to the heat and my friend who won the WHOLE FREAKING female category (with a 22-something) usually runs around a 21 I think. So, I guess everyone was off, but dear Lord! After the race I drank 4 bottles of bottled water before I wasn't thirsty anymore.

So, I have decided that for the two upcoming races I have (this Saturday and the next) I am going to lay off the Insanity and do more running instead. I am going to have to figure out a better way to mesh the Insanity and running together so that I can do both and not let one or the other suffer.

Things I realized from this 5K:

• I missed running (I was still running, just not as much)
• I really want to train for a half in the fall/winter. I do better with a training "schedule"
• I miss running when I don't have a partner. I partner up during the week most of the time and being all alone on race day was lonely
• Running without my Garmin sucks (I need some major tech support for mine!)
• I should be realistic about time when it's that hot.
• Ice water sponges at the finish line are AMAZING
• A blow up slip n slide at the finish line would be the best thing EVER

Hope your week is going well!!

Melissa