Race for the Light 5k (kind of)

I wish I had taken pictures of this one but low and behind I had it in my head to run this race and run it hard even though I have honestly had less miles in the past 3 weeks than I usually have in one week alone.  The race starts at 4:30 pm and you run through a park that is completely decked out in Christmas lights.   It's a great race and a lot of fun and not overly busy either.    I did find some pictures online from last year though that I never knew existed.   For your viewing pleasure.

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I'm even such a great runner that I managed to line up with the elites last year.

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So this year for the "5k" they decided to switch things up and make it a 5.2 mile race because it's their ten year anniversary so they added .10 on.   This made a big issue for me because they still took your time and put it in for 3.1 so the pace online is not even correct.   I'm very glad I had my Garmin because it clocked the total distance in at 3.25 miles and it also showed me my real 5k time.  

On the way to this race I jammed out to music.   I love blasting music on the way to a race to get me in the mood to run hard.   Then I remembered how I was driving the exact same way as I did to my first half marathon earlier this year and it made me smile because for that drive down I also had blasted my music as loud as I could handle and sang as loudly as I could.   I was ready.

This year I lined up a bit behind the local elites to avoid being passed like crazy the first .25 miles.   It's a really small line up (only 300 runners) so it's easy to get to where you need to be.   The race started on time and we were off.    I just kept telling myself to push myself and to watch my breathing.   I wasn't over dressed and this helped me a lot mentally.  I hate being hot. 

 At the 1 mile mark I looked down at my Garmin and saw I clocked in at an 8:54.   That made me excited but I knew I was going faster than I could keep up but I just kept with it.   Mile two I slowed down a bit and clocked in at 9:15.   At this point I started to feel tired.   I was happy with how everything was going but couldn't help thinking that if I had been running more lately, I could have kept up the pace a bit more.   Mile 3 was a 9:29 pace.   At the real 3.1 mark I made sure to look down and press lap on my Garmin because I wanted this race to count as a PR for me.  

3.1 miles in 28:35

Over one full minute faster than last year.   

This gives me such hope that I can do better.  This whole year I felt like I had not improved and even though it was only 1 minute faster, it gives me hope.  

For the record, I did complete the whole 3.25 miles in 29:48.

If I find anymore pictures of my arm, leg or back of the head, I'll be sure to share them.