2009 Groundhog 5K: Fierce!

My whole family came out to support me in this race, which was awesome, both logistically and mentally. We arrived very early, and enjoyed taking in the scene while I took my time in a nice, long, easy warm-up. I had four layers on, and gradually peeled layers off, tossing them by my kids, which was highly amusing.

I hadn't run for three days leading up to this race, due to the cold that settled in Thursday morning. I was well rested, and was curious to see how I felt in some strides as the race time approached. I felt nothing but thrill as I allowed a few of these; I love running fast. I knew at that point I was going to have a very good race.

With less than five minutes to go, I pushed myself up near the front of the line (no small task the way they line people up). How the singer got through the National Anthem while they raised the platform on her, jerked her to a stop, slipping the flag in the middle of it, is a testament to her commitment to "The show must go on!" Unlike the race a few weekends ago, I intended to be ready for the gun this time :-)

We were off, and within a few hundred yards, I could feel my arms tingle, a sure sign I was going too fast. I allowed myself to pull back just a little, and let some people pass for a bit. I settled down, and passed the first mile in what read 6:22, which doesn't really seem possible. Actually, I'm certain that first mile must be off by a tenth, and I do recall hearing this from others as well.

I never slowed again, and just hung on to what felt like very low 7s, and did more passing than being passed. It felt good and exciting to run this fast, but it was a very hard effort. I knew I'd break 23 minutes, and was just counting down in 30 second increments.

By 19 minutes elapsed, the suffering was pretty intense, but I knew I didn't have far to go. I repeated this verse: "All things are possible through Christ who strengthens me." (Phillipians 4:13). I stopped looking at my watch when it passed 20 minutes and only focused on getting to the finish line. I ran all the way through (there is only chip time at the finish, not the start) and punched it. My watch read 22:35, which is about right, since I was probably about 2 seconds back from the start line.

Immediately after crossing the finish line, KC Photo snapped a picture. This was the peak of my agony from the race, so I imagine this photo will look particularly bad. I thought really ugly thoughts when he snapped that picture :-) (Update: Here's that priceless shot of visual agony for your amusement!)

We waited through the awards ceremony. Funny, I would have had a solid win in the 35-39 female age division. I took 3rd in the female 40-44 with an official time of 22:37. Last year, there were well over 100 women in this age group, so I'm very pleased with placing this well. This was a solid PR for me, my previous PR being 23:38 from August of last year.