5K

The Turkey Trot!

I ran into lots of old friends this morning, which made the day, as cold and damp as the weather was, seem warm. I had a fun race, and finished the 5K in 31:39, which works out to about 10:12 per mile. Holy mackeral, that's fast for me. I would have been faster, but I had a verrrrrryyyy slllllooowwwww start. I'm so used to being the absolute back of the pack on my Saturday runs, that I placed myself near the back of the pack at the start this morning. Of course, a 5k fun run attracts a very different crowd than a marathon. So when the gun went off, I was caught in a throng of people who run once a year, or who were running in costume. There are about 1300 entrants vying for space on very narrow residential streets, so it was about a half-mile before I could really open up my stride. The first half of the course is almost entirely uphill, which I'm finding quite suits me. I had no trouble at all - my first mile was something like 10:25, even with the slow start.

I'm looking ahead to the 10 miler in the spring, though I won't really start training for it until the first of the year. At first, I was thinking I'd shoot for an 11:00 mile pace, but I really think that 10:45 isn't unreasonable to shoot for. In the marathon, my first 7 were under 11:00 (except for mile 5, with the bathroom break). I'm getting really excited about doing a shorter distance. I had so much fun this morning - it's great to just roll out of bed, and think, yeah, I'll do a race today. It's a much lighter state of mind than thinking all summer about doing a marathon. Not to mention that it's great not to have to think about nutrition, and bathroom stops, and all the logistics that go along with an endurance challenge.