Turtles Can Run

Third 5K in 3 weeks and fifth race for me this Spring.  I never race this often but my husband and kids have been enjoying the races so I have just gone along for the ride.  Honestly after running the Cap 10K and realizing I was much slower than last Spring I did not want to race again until I got faster but I didn’t want to take away the Spring racing experiences from the kids, so I sucked it up and have gone out week after week and tried my best at these races.

I almost did not do this race but promised my daughter we would run these three 5Ks together.  I almost ran with her instead of running my own race but knew if I did that  I would just be coping out because she would rather pace herself during 5Ks.  I also almost ran a good race today..almost.

Last year I ran the Daisy 5k (now known as the Dukes and Daisies 5K) race and PRed..I ran it in 22 minutes.  I knew running it this year would be a direct comparison on my fitness.  The turn out for the race was really low..around 75 timed runners.  One of my favorite parts about this race is that the ladies get a 3 minute headstart.  Because the race was so small this year though this was a disadvantage.  The lead ladies were not super fast so  I tried to hang on to their pace and went out to fast.    My first mile was a 6:50.. which would have been perfect last year or even on a cooler day but at my current fitness level and the temps today it was too fast and I totally bonked after that.   By mile 2 I  dropped from 3rd to  5th female and slowed down drastically.  I finished in 23:31..no improvement actually slower than last week.

What killed me was the overall female finisher finished slower than I ran the race last year.  If I was in the same shape I was in last year I could have won the woman’s race…ugg..  I don’t think that opportunity will ever come up again since at most races in Austin the female winner is much faster.  After the race I went back on the course to find my daughter and run her to the finish.  I am so proud of her and so happy that she wants to run and challenge herself.  My children have been a huge motivation to do my best and not give up at these races because I want to be good role model for them.  Secretly I have wanted to cry during and after each of these races but knowing the kids would be at the finish line helped me think of the positive and keep things in proper perspective.

Now I have a month to train before running the San Diego Rock N Roll Half Marathon on June 5th.  I am hoping to finally shed these final pounds to get back into peak shape and speed up a bit.

Filed under: Races, Running Blog