Race Report

First 5K of 2008 on Sunday! This one was called the Wacky Snacky, and I think it was the best one I've done so far. After the race, everyone gets this empty bag to fill up with all sorts of free snack foods. I'm definitely doing it again next year! I did the race with my friend K (the mom of Ella's little boyfriend M). We sometimes run together (we were running together every Wednesday before winter just got so insane with the ice and snow)--she is way faster than I am. At the race, we met up with two more of her friends--both of whom run like 6-minute miles. I was a bit intimidated because I am s-l-o-w in comparison, but they were all super nice. I told them I'd keep up for as long as I could. Which basically amounted to losing them after a minute or two. I always prefer to run my own race though (rather than have someone who is faster try to slow down to stick with me), so it was perfect. Hit the first mile marker and realized I was beating my "typical" mile pace by a minute. Hit the second mile marker--yep, still on track. At the finish line, K was waiting with her two friends, and they cheered me in, which was nice. By my watch, I finished the race THREE minutes faster than the last 5K, which I ran at the end of December. And my time was FIVE minutes faster than the 5K I ran in early December. I guess all the training is paying off! The "official" race times aren't in yet, so it may end up being more like a two-minute improvement, but it's still cool. It takes so long to actually cross the start line at these races that the time at the finish line is never as accurate as the chip time (which is what the official race times will be based on). I'm planning to do another 5K next weekend if I can find a sitter for the girls.