Extreme Results: in fitness & life: Take 5 in the Garden

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Take 5 in the Garden

This past Saturday I ran the Take 5 in the Garden 5K. As many of you know, I debated on whether to run this race due to many reason. Well okay, maybe excuse is a better word. I was feeling under the weather a couple days before the race, the weather was supposed to be crappy, I thought I didn't register in time...

At 6:20am on Saturday morning, the day of the race, I got up and looked outside. The sun was shining and the birds were chirping. At that moment I knew I would be mad at myself if I didn't run.

Preston came to the race to support me even though he only got 4 hours of sleep the night before and slept on the couch (he played in a pool tourney and got home late).

I told Preston my goal time for the 5K, which led to a discussion on why 33 minutes was a cop-out. Preston suggested that I set my goal time to 28:21- the same time I ran the St. Patrick's Day 5K. I said okay I'll try, but in my head I told myself I would be happy with anything under 30 minutes.

The race started and I thought okay here goes nothing. The first part of the race, which is uphill, was trying. It took my legs awhile to wake up and realize we were running a race. I guess other people were having the same problem because some were actually walking up the first hill. Literally we weren't even .5 miles into the race! Okay I am not going to lie, the thought of walking up the first hill did pop into my head. But before I knew it was at the top and running downhill.

The terrain was challenging, but fun. I took Erin's advice and made sure to looked up and take in the scenery. There was actually a guy who stopped to take a picture- and yes he still finished before me! Oh and this one girl who walked the first hill finished before me also! It seems that the "walkers" have a technique.

My iPhone app told me I was on track to run 9:36 miles. Not realizing it but probably due to the downhills I kicked it into gear and got my pace down to 8:56 miles! When I crossed the finish line, this time, I made it a point to look at the time clock.

I ran my second 5K in...

27:39!

Place Name                    Age City/state            Guntime    Pace  Cat Bib#

20 Lori Hollis              99 Colo Spgs CO            27:39.50  8:55 AG   877

Preston didn't get a picture of me crossing the finish line, because he wasn't expecting me yet!

Notice how my age is 99, well at first they couldn't find my race results due to their incompetency. My name is still not up on the website, but they assure me they are working on it. I might even win a trophy for finishing 3rd in my age group!

Next up Larimer Humane Society Fire Hydrant 5 in Ft. Collins with Augusta and the George's.