Woo hoo!  I ran a new post-college 5K PR this morning!  My time was 22:31, or 7:15 minutes per mile.  I guess exercising six days a week pays off.  Race report:

I was a little on the fence about whether to run this race today. I had some kind of bronchitis-like illness last weekend, and I’m still a bit wheezy. The weather looked iffy. However, I’m glad I decided to run. The weather ended up being nearly perfect – about 50 degrees and partly cloudy. I wore shorts and a short-sleeve shirt and felt perfect. My only complaint was a headwind on the way back.

I’d decided to go for it, so I went out pretty fast, probably too fast, as I was left behind by the people I ran with during the first half mile. I was in serious discomfort half a mile in, and I couldn’t believe how long it took to reach the 3/4 mile mark (turnaround for the kids’ 2.5K), the mile mark, and finally the turnaround. I slowed down maybe 1/2 a mile in to a more sustainable pace. Turning around was a big mental boost, though the sight of the finish line in the far off distance was disheartening. I focused on reaching targets 50 to 100m away, one by one – first a bush, then a sign, and so on. I also tried to catch up with the man in front of me, which I did eventually manage. The person in front of him was the 11 year old who was comically photographed with me last week. He was way off in the distance, and I didn’t manage to make up any ground on him. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, I crossed the finish line. I felt moderately lousy for 10 or 15 minutes afterwards, about what you’d expect for a 5K.

I was displeased to find myself 3rd in my age group (top 2 get awards) given that I knew I’d been one of the first women. However, it turns out I was also 3rd place in the race overall. I was extremely pleased to get my first medal in longer than I can remember.

I’m anxious to find out my time. I’m confident I at least beat my post-Briony PR (25:25 or so), and I’m thinking I may even have hit my post-Isla PR (high 23s) but we shall see. It certainly hurt like I was running fast!