Post 5 Alarm 5K

7th 5K: COMPLETE!

Did I finish it in under 30 minutes like I wanted to? No. Heck no. I wasn't anywhere close to 30 minutes and it tied for my worst 5K time by finishing 31:58.

I am really happy with how I ran the 5K and my final time.

Perfect day for a run!

At the start of the race, I went to turn up the volume of my music on my phone and somehow stopped the music from playing. Nope, sorry, not running a race without my music. Do you know how difficult it is to keep running while you're busy taking your armband off, getting your phone out of the armband, and get the music going again? The first 4 minutes of my run was spent trying to get situated.

I made it to the one mile marker in 9:10. Not bad. I didn't stop and I kept running. I knew I could make it down the Greenway to the turn around point and I'd be at a mile and a half. I made it to the turn around point and decided to keep running to the 2 mile point. It was only half a mile away!

Nope. The turn around point was deceptive. It wasn't actually halfway through the race, they just wanted to turn you around on the Greenway to go back a different way. Whatever.

I made it to the two mile marker in 18:30. Ok, I had slowed down a little bit but still! That's a 9 min, 15 second pace. For a girl who usually averages a 10+ min pace, this was fantastic for me.

But that's where it all went downhill, or should I say, uphill? The entire last mile of the race was straight uphill. It also was on a Greenway that had lots of wooden bridges that were slick after the rain from the night before, making them difficult/dangerous to run across. I stopped to walk right at the 2 mile marker and probably walked for more of the last mile than I actually ran.

I didn't finish in under 30 minutes. But you know what? I didn't care.

I got my butt out of bed and completed a 5K on a Saturday morning.

I completed my 7th 5K in less than 6 months.

I ran {for the first time ever in a 5K} for two miles without stopping.

I got PRs for my time at the one and two mile markers.

I don't hate running anymore.

But don't get me wrong. It's still in the bottom 5 on the list of things that I enjoy doing.

Then on Monday after the race {and after writing this post}, I decided to check the race website for pictures from the race, where I came across the race times and I found out that my time was the 2nd best in my age group. But... I wasn't listed as the 2nd place finisher in my age group.

Um, what?

So I emailed the timing company {props to Queen City Timing for being so fast with a reply!} When they were keying my information in, they left off my gender. So I didn't get placed with my gender/age group. The girl who was listed as the 1st place finisher didn't actually run the race so...

I got first place in my age group!!! Yeah! Maybe I'll even get a fun little award like Corbett did. That's right. You're looking at the top female & male finisher in the 25-29 age group.

Charlotte Turkey Trot, here I come!