New Post (finally!) and a race report

Yeah. Been kind of quiet around here. Mainly because summer is very busy and I've been boring myself witless. Yep, I am bored with myself.

Anyways, the title does say race report and race report it shall be. Willow Bay - 5k. This was the first race for the gym's beginner group. This group is awesome - very low drop out rate and a very motivated group. Everyone did awesome and now they are moving forward, setting their sights on Bud in September.

This was my 5K 'A' race. I wanted to PR. I worked hard on my speed all summer long and it paid off................

27:39
8:53 pace

Boo-ya.
Amazing what speeds you can run hauling around 30 less pounds!

W, S, K, B and I planned on running all out - we were all shooting for PRs. This race wasn't chip timed so we all lined up at the front and went out very fast.

My first mile was 8:18. Yeah. Way, way too fast and it was all downhill pacewise after that. However, that was enough time in the bank to keep me under 9's.

At about the half mile point, I came up alongside B. I told her that we were going out way too fast. She said she knew that and at this point 'WE' (that 'we' is very important to remember) just need to relax, settle in and run. 'Oh great', I thought to myself. 'She said 'we', she must be planning on running with me and I won't be all alone'. No sooner was that thought out of my head than I was looking at her rapidly disappearing back. Seriously folks. I might have been standing at a standstill. 'Huh,' I said to myselfs. 'If that is the way she wants to play it, I will just hang with her as long as possible', and I picked up my speed. That lasted about 3 steps. I backed it right down to my snail's pace and said 'EFF that and eff her!' She quickly vanished from my vision. Beotch finished just under 26.

All the way down the parkway, to the turnaround, I could see K in front of me and who I thought was S. I run vision impaired, without my glasses. All I could see was this woman, in a pink top and I thought it was S. At the turnaround, my time was 13 and change. I spent the second half of the race chasing K. I figured if I caught her, I wouldn't have to run alone. I never caught her. She never increased her lead over me but I just couldn't catch her. She finished about 30 seconds ahead of me. Once I passed her and figured out pink shirt lady wasn't S, I had no idea where she was - ahead or behind me. Turns out she was 10-15 seconds behind me, trying to chase me down like I was trying to chase K down.

Last mile was painful. It just hurt. After the halfway turnaround, I just looked and waited to see Jen who came along to spectate with Cliff and Lucy. Once I saw her, I started looking for A on the right side of the course and I knew I was home free.

Next up - Bud in September. Not sure how I will run this - for my own time or with the new runners. After that is the Toronto half at the end of the month.