Miles for Moffit 5 miler: RR

I could make this very short and simple and summarize my race in one sentence: 5 milers are hard!!

But, I'll give you a little more fo a run down on how it went . . .

After babysitting my favorite little FL baby on Friday night, I got about 5 hours of sleep. I woke up and had less than 15 minutes to get ready. UGH! I hate being rushed. I quickly got dressed and ready and met some friends to carpool with to the race.

We warmed up for nearly 2 miles and got ready to run. My only race goal was to start around 7:15's and try to hold on. I really didn't want to start too fast. Knowing my half pace is 7:20, I thought I could aim for a little faster, but I still have this terrible fear of starting too fast!!

Jen and I started off together - which was the plan! We were going to start together and see what happened. We came across mile 1 in 6:59. We laughed at the fact that we were talking and running sub 7:00 minute miles. Mile 2 was a little harder, but we kept pace: 6:56

Somewhere around mile 2.5, I dropped back off of Jen. I couldn't keep up with her and my biggest fear had suddenly come true. I had in fact started too quickly! 2.5 more miles of running is hard on tired lungs and legs! :) I let her go, but kept her in sight. I tried to stay positive and tried not to let anyone pass me. I just wanted to hold on and not completely die. I crossed mile 3 with a split of 7:15.

Funny enough, there were rolling hills. We kept going up and down them on the last two miles. I told myself when I had two miles left that I could run 8:20's and finish under 38 minutes. I was okay with this ... or, well I tricked myself expecting this, so I was elated when I hit mile 4 in 7:16.

My saving grace was a short little out and back section that they added around mile 3.5-4ish. I like out and back's in short races because you can distract yourself and count the runners ahead of you! I wanted to see how Jen was doing and I wanted to see how many females were ahead of me. I was surprised to only count 6 females in front of Jen. There were two girls in between us (but they were close and I knew I'd get them).

I kept trying to pick up the pace, but I couldn't. The two girls were merely inches in front of me but I couldn't muster up enough energy to pass them. They were older and I knew they weren't in my age group. Then, something happened. With about half a mile left, I started yelling at myself! I kept telling myself that I'd be so upset if I didn't pass them. It was going to hurt either way and I just needed to push a little harder. So, I did. I picked up the pace and pushed pass them!! Mile 5: 7:11

Of course, there were quite a few turns and I don't always run the best tangents, so my final home stretch sprint - :21 (.06 miles) - 5:40 pace.

I crossed the finish line completely exhausted. I looked at my Garmin and in complete disbelief, it said: 36:00:94 I told everyone that I ran a 35:59 and prayed that I stopped it a little late. Sadly, the final results had me at just that: 36:00. I wish it would have read 36:01 or 35:59. 36:00 just sounds too approximate. Oh well.

Garmin Results:
5.06 miles: 36:00
7:07 pace

Official Results
5.0 miles: 36:00
7:12 pace

2/85 - age group
8/556 - females

7:12 pace