As far as I can tell, it's been
I signed up for the Pride 5k at the suggestion of my friend Megan who has run it the past two years in a row. Mostly because I wanted to just have fun hanging and running it with her, but also because: 1. I regrettably had yet to experience any of Pride weekend in San Diego over the past 6 years and I wanted to make sure I didn't miss out again; 2. the proceeds go to a wonderful cause, to support LGBT Youth Housing Center and Pride Charity Giving; and 3. because I'm getting to the point in my training where I will find any excuse to not have my training runs be just me and my thoughts.
Because who wants to be alone with their thoughts for 20+ miles a week?
700+ other runners? Not alone!
The Pride 5k is pretty unique in that it takes place right before the Pride Parade. So for the entirety of the course, which is an out-and-backer, there are already people in a great mood packed onto the streets, ready to cheer you on while they wait for the parade. When does that ever happen at a race? It was absolutely wonderful!
Also, the organization of this race and staging area can not be understated... this is a race other organizers can definitely learn from. After picking up my bib and t-shirt and then checking my gear, Megan and I headed to the starting line and within a few moments we were off.
The turn-around!
For the duration of the race, I felt amazing (despite waking up miserably hungover from Opening Day at the racetrack), with the exception of the last .3 miles where my hands started getting a little numb and I got worried about how dehydrated I probably was.
Note to self: this is why you don't race hungover on a Saturday morning in the summer.
Despite my concerns, I knew that I was running my fastest official 5k in over a decade so I wasn't about to slow down. Shortly after finishing (and almost crying from happiness at receiving my post-race popsicle... so much better than a medal #srs), I confirmed that with my Nike+ app: I finished in 29:34, a full two minutes faster than any other 5k I've done.
Later, I found out my chip time is even better: 29:11. I finished 11th out of 66 women in the 30-34 age group and 271st out of 772 runners overall. Not bad!
When I ran my last few 5k's, I wasn't training for anything. They were fun runs, two of them weren't even timed, and so they just didn't seem like a big deal to me. But this time around, at the San Diego Pride 5k, I had a totally different experience, especially since the format was much more like a real road race.
It was nice to see how training is paying off while getting a little taste of what my marathon race pace could look like. And even nicer to do it in support of and solidarity with Pride!
NYC Marathon Training Week 4: 7/4/16 - 7/10/16
- Ran 4 Days For a Total of 18.16 miles
- Average Pace: 11'09" /mi
- Strength Training: 0x
- Yoga: 0x
NYC Marathon Training Week 5: 7/11/16 - 7/17/16
- Ran 4 Days For a Total of 20.52 miles
- Average Pace: 10'41" /mi
- Strength Training: 0x
- Yoga: 0x
