Full Moon 5k

The Full Moon 5k was put on by the local rec center and would be benefiting the soccer complex.  My son plays soccer so I wanted to help out.  I was a little apprehensive about this race but not as bad as I was with the CCC Relay race. This race was at night and I am not a fan of running in the dark. I was told it was a well lit course so I decided last minute that I would run and texted my friend Jennifer to see if she wanted to run it as well.  She agreed so we made out way up to the race site and got registered.  We hung around for about 30 minutes before the race started.

Right before we started I had a chance to talk to my friend Bethany a minute.  We got to talking about how our runs were going and she asked what pace I was running. I told her that my pace had been anywhere between 8:30-9:30 average pace.  I loved her answer when she said, "Wow! 8:30 is pretty ambitious." I told her she was welcome to run with me because I wasn't sure what I would be doing. I had already ran 5 miles that morning and decided last minute to run this one.  Little did I know that I was going to be pretty ambitious that night.

We were ready to take off now.  Got my Nike + app going and music.  Like I did at the Oak Barrel Half, I set a play list for about 28 minutes and goal was to cross the finish line before the play list was finished playing.  Finally we were off.  I kind of felt bad after I had a chance to think about it but I just took off.  Didn't say bye or anything.  I was holding a pretty steady pace of 6:30-7:30 or so for a good half a mile or so.  Then I started to slow down since there were no more people to weave in and out of. 

Crossed a bridge that went over the interstate around mile one and my pace was 8:08.  I was still going strong and made it to the first turn that we would be making.  I saw my friend Brad that would always come up and talk to me while I am running if I run inside.  He directed me in the direction I needed to go and I started making my way up some of the small hills along the course.  Since this was only a 5k, I opted out of taking water at the water stop.  I knew that I could make it the entire course without it.  When I am running I usually don't take a drink until after mile 3 so I knew that I wasn't making a mistake.

I then got to a curve that was a downhill that was not well lit at all.  It scared me to be honest but what was I to do?  Just stop and be done?  No thank you.  I continued on and as I approached the halfway point there was a firetruck with all it's lights on.  I am not complaining but it was almost too bright.  I was seeing spots as I was attempting to go up the next hill.  So naturally because of that, I was running a little slower. 

I finally made the last turn before I would meet Brad again and be on my way to the finish line. At this point, I had been struggling with a horrible side stitch that was becoming quite painful.  I finally was about a tenth of the mile from the finish line and as much as I didn't want to, I had to stop to try and stretch it out.  When I couldn't do it in less than a few seconds, I sucked it up and pressed on. Crossing the finish line at 26:55!!  My best 5k time at this point was 28:12 so this was huge PR for me.

I also tracked it on my Nike + app and with any other course, it was slightly longer than the distance it was suppose to be due to how wide you take turns or there was no way to make it that distance. So my phone said that I ran 3.23 miles in 27 minutes with an average pace of 8:20 a mile!!!  I was afraid after I took off that I started out too fast but I was able to push through and keep the mile splits at 8:31 for the second mile and 8:25 for the third.  

Normally I would like to have negative splits but I was extremely happy with how this worked out.  I watched several friends cross the finish line along with my friend Jennifer that I came with.  She did awesome.  While we ate and drank some, we waited for the awards.  Turns out that I placed 2nd in my age group but was not recognized.  Kind of surprised me considering that I have a hard time placing in 5k's but I am was beyond excited.  My friend Jennifer placed 3rd I believe.  Her first medal and I am so very proud of her.

Here we are with our medals!!  It feels so amazing to have goals and accomplish them. Ultimately I wanted to beat my best time, which I did.  I was actually sitting down the night before and writing down my goals.  I wanted to finish a 5k in 26:50 and I was only 5 seconds off from accomplishing this since I go by official race times.  My phone on the other hand said my 5k was 25:57!! Holy smokes I was flying.  

I don't have anymore races planned right now.  I do have several that I would like to do but registration hasn't opened yet. So I am finally all caught up on my race recaps.

I checked my official race results today and I placed 1st in my age group. Just wanted to update everyone on that. So until next time.