Last night I ran the Run for Tony- a run, in its 17th year, that helps pay for the medical bills of a man who was injured when he was younger and paralyzed. He is at the finish line of every race and it is a wonderful event. Lots of people, food and a free beer at the end (I always give mine away) which gets a lot of people out to race!
Time/Pace: 29:42/9:35 (see my last post in regards to my sub-30 5k excitement!)
Overall: 383/522
Age: 23/35
Gender: 138/240
Pre-Race: I took a quick nap when I got home from work and headed over to the race around 6:00pm to pick up my number. I saw my teammate Dan (he is training for his first marathon too!) and chatted for a while before stretching. My shin was still bothering me a little and my sunglasses broke- not a good sign for the night. Also, I had chosen to wear a running skirt I bought last fall and had never worn and it was a little big. I starting to re-think the race when I ran into my friend Michele. She too was gunning after her first sub-30 5K and was also having some leg issues. We bitched a little and of course, I decided to race. My friend Danielle also met up for the race so the three of us just chatted for a while before the start.
Race: The race started (kind of oddly, we were all like “huh we started?”) and off I went. Seriously, all the aching in my calf/shin disappeared and I was moving fast! I felt great and at the 1st mile marker I was pacing 9:11- WOW!!! Somewhere into the 2nd mile I was feeling really dehydrated so I stopped and walked through the next water station and through a sprinkler (many residents put out sprinklers for the racers- it was wonderful!) before taking off again. I have no idea what happened to the 2nd mile marker but I totally missed it and had no idea where I was in the race or what my pace was- I could only semi-judge from my watch since I had walked a bit. I still felt like I could make it under 30 minutes but I wasn’t sure….I just kept plugging away. At the next water stop, where I walked again for about 15 seconds, I heard a guy who was spectating tell someone in the crowd that the finish was “right around the corner and down about a block”- I checked my watch and knew if I sprinted a little I had a chance. As I came into the finish I could see the clock…29:56, 29:57, 29:58, 29:59, 30:00 and then I crossed it at 30:01. I was infuriated. I am pretty sure I shouted a profanity and kicked a cup, I was so mad to have missed it by 1 second. Uh, and then I got my act together and realized that was the clock time, not my chip time and all hope was not lost. I checked the chip times when they posted and there is was….29:42….next to MY name. 3.1 miles in 29:42 for a sub-30 5K!!!!!
Post-Race: Hung around with Michelle (she got her sub-30 time as well!!!) and Danielle…at some food and stretched while chatting about the race.
This was a great local race- the course was nice with a few small hills and enough turns to keep it interesting. The frequent water stops were great and like I said, it was so nice to have the residents put out sprinklers. It was so hot and the water made for a much cooler run. It was also nice to have some of my friends running in it and of course, getting the sub-30 made my night.
This is a race I plan on doing every year and even though I was really apprehensive about wearing a running skirt, who knows, maybe it was my lucky charm! I think Iwill be wearing (a better fitted) one for PDR in a few weeks. 🙂
Yes, yes – you must continue to bask in the glory of your PR. In fact, I insist you celebrate all weekend!!!
Super cool!! I think a night race would be fun.. I would have swore too, gotta love the Chip time huh?? PR YIPPEE!!
FYI little giveaway on the Blog today if interested. I may have already told you that 🙂
Congratulations!! Great job hitting your goal. you should be very proud of yourself. Fun race report.
Congratulations what a great result on this 5K!
And what a good cause! I think I would run it every year too when we had something like this!
Congrats again woman! SO AWESOME!
CONGRATS!!! on your sub-30 run! You’ve come so far since you started. And enjoy your time at the Jersey shore!
I’m still stoked about my time, too. I’m glad to have gotten that goal out of my system, so I can relax next week on the 5K I’m doing with Kate.
Good luck with PDR!!! Can’t wait to see you results!
yayyyyyyyyyyyyy CONGRATS!!!!!! amazing job 🙂
awesome!! YAYAYAYY and congrats. what a great feeling and what a great race.
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