Jingle Bell 5k

Today was my first race of any distance since the marathon. In fact, it is the first 5k I've run in quite some time. So, I had mixed emotions about what to expect for today.

Before I get to the race info, it was really nice to be at a race and run into so many people I know. Most of the people were from work (we had 12 people racing), but I saw some others as well. I saw Roxanne (one of the partners at our company), Christina, her husband Adam, Nate, Jenn, John, Marcus, Scott Parmer and his son Andrew. All in all, it was a great turnout. And, there were quite a few good results for the team as well... Congrats everyone.

My race was pretty interesting... Like I said, I had no idea what to expect. So, I just listened to my body and went with the flow. The first mile was kind of downhill and it was pretty quick as a result (7:19).

The second mile was more self preservation... I got to about 3/4 of the way through the second mile and happened upon Christina. She is normally much faster than me and I was surprised to see her. I passed her at the time and was pretty sure I would be running into her again later. She gave me a vote of confidence and I could even hear her cheering for me as I got a little bit more ahead of her. She was yelling something about me PRing this race. Right about then, I hit the 2 mile marker in 14:48 (7:28 mile). That was faster than expected and I was sure the wheels were going to fall off.

If the second mile was self preservation, then the third was just wanting to be finished. Because of the cold, my lungs really hurt. I kept having to spit... which I'm sure the other runners were really enjoying. Anyhow, I just kept pushing on and turned the last corner. I could see that the timer said 22 something and I was pretty happy. Usually I have a pretty good kick, but I had used everything. I sped up a bit. But, it wasn't very fast at all.

I forgot to stop my watch, but I'm pretty sure my finishing time was about 23:08 (8:20 for the last 1.1 miles). That's fantastic. My previous PR is 22:51. But, that was a short course. I attempted to calculate the race time and came up with about 23:15. So, I don't know what my official time from this race was and I have no clue what my time was for the previous PR. But, it should be pretty darn close.... I'd say, it's probably my PR at this point. But, I'm just waiting for the 5k where I shatter it with a mid 22 or less. That way, it will not be so confusing.