I crossed two more lines! Long post, but hope you enjoy my UGLY TIE 5K Race recap.
On our way to Minneapolis, my husband asked me if I was going to run or race this 5K? Good question! I told him, and myself, I was going to just have fun, run easy, and settle in to a comfortable pace. Yeah right…you could say I made a HUGE rookie mistake and went out way to hard. It’s been a while since I have raced.
I could blame this on Jeff, a fellow anderson race ambassador who I met up with at the start. He said he was going to run about 8 minute miles so I thought, “lets just hang behind him, not let him out of my sight, and I’ll be fine.” What happened to running your own race🤷🏼♀️. 2nd mistake!
Or I could blame it on not feeling or sleeping the best the last couple days and nights. I laid down about 7 pm on Saturday night hoping I would feel better by morning. I still didn’t feel myself the next morning but tried to eat 1/2 of a banana with some nut butter about 5:30 am. What a mistake. By the time my husband and I arrived at the race, I was feeling a little better. I am not exactly sure what was up, but what I do know, not every race goes as planned.
I grabbed my race bib, my “ugly” shirt, and made my way to the start line which is where I found Jeff.
After a brief chat, I wished him luck since I knew I wasn’t going to be running his pace. I was sort of hoping to just not loose sight of him🙏🏻🙏🏻.
It didn’t take me too long into the race to figure out that I was in trouble. I glanced down at my watch to see I was running about a 7:20 pace. I dialed it way back, but based on how I felt, I knew I was going to pay for it. In my past 5K’s, I will gradually build up my speed, settle into my pace, and then try to sprint in. Most often I am basing this off of my heart rate.
Not this time. In fact, quite the opposite. I finished my first mile with an average pace of 8:09 but I slowed down to about an 8:25 avg pace the second mile. By mile 3, even slower. I took one last look at my watch at about mile 2.9 and realized something wasn’t right because I had long ways to go before crossing the finish line. That’s when I stopped looking at my watch and slowed down even more. I definitley lost sight of my friend Jeff 😂.
My last live 5K before the shut down back in March of 2019 was actually shy of 3.1 miles due to some ice. The Ugly Tie 5K actually measured long so my true 5K time based on my watch was about 26 minutes & 28 seconds. I averaged around an 8:28 pace which was not even close to my PR, nor a personal best in my age group, but I did have fun.
Not only did I have fun, I was actually the 6th female out of 98 over all, and the 2nd female in the 55-59 age category. Not bad I guess……
I am less than a year away from turning 60 which means I will also be entering a new age category. I am not sure how I feel about this yet 😉.
This is my second year representing Anderson Race Management, and the more I get to know them, the prouder I am to be a part of this outstanding race family. They truly are one big family and they work so hard to put on incredible events like this one. Thanks Anderson Races for the support!
And of course, the best part of the race is always post run coffee and brunch!
And it’s always fun to see a race you run on TV! Way to go Anderson Races!
Coffee before a race or wait till after?
What is your favorite distance to race?
How good are you at NOT comparing your younger self to your master years of running?
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