Anthem 5K Race Recap

Hello all! Good news today! Actually this weekend has been lovely so far. Last night I went to the Pink concert downtown which was more amazing than I can explain. Pink is my very favorite artist and The Colonel got me tickets for me and my sister to go for my birthday but it did keep me out quite late despite the Anthem 5K this morning. Totally worth it though.

So excited!

Not enough hours later I got up for the race and for a split second wanted to go back to sleep and scrap it. But this isn't some frufru 5K, it's the Triple Crown. And it's the first leg. It would be like missing the Derby then trying to show up for the Preakness and Belmont. Talk about a waste. So up I got and headed out...without breakfast, a drink or my compression sleeves. Awesome. But I have been trying to depend on them less and am to the point in my acupuncture treatment that I'm just maintaining since last time I literally had no pain to discuss. My sister wasn't running with me which was a total bummer because most importantly, I had no one to Harlem Shake with. I was this guy.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS1WLg5exRQ&w=560&h=315]

Anyway, I remembered my ipod and Garmin so I was ready and off I went.

Before the race

Moving on, my sister and I were just talking about how much slower we run when we're together but concluded it's because we save more breath for talking than running. So since I was all alone I decided to go hard. I'm also trying to get off of my intervals for shorter distances so was just going to run until I felt like I needed a walk. My first mile was 10:16 and I felt great so I went on and up the biggest climb of the race. I remembered the course so knew it was coming and actually destroyed it. Like...easily just ran on up like it was nothing. Is it possible riding all of those hills in spinning and on the trainer have actually helped? Because I know I haven't been running hills at all. Anyway I hit mile two still feeling pretty great in 10:12 so I decided to just chug on. There were 3 climbs I think overall and I just worked with them, again, no problem. Around 2.8 miles I decided I didn't really feel like running anymore but by then I could see the finish so I picked it up to get in under 33 minutes. My original goal was under 35 but then I considered I could do around 33. When I got my 3 mile split I about died because it was 9:58. I mean seriously. Who am I? My official time was 31:15 which is a new standalone 5K PR! Had no idea what I was capable of! Very happy with this performance but would rather be slower and have my buddy! Another fun fact would be that last year I did this race in 47 minutes and some change but was just as proud of myself today as I was last year! Sounds like progress to me :)

First leg is complete!

And just for kicks, here's how I looked after the race last year. I'd like to think I look a bit better this year, but I did hide it well.