A 5K for Good Friends & a Good Cause

I had exactly one mission this weekend: stay on the course.

 

The good news is that I had a much better chance of staying on course this year & not getting lost like last year since they decided to make the 10K runners run the 5K course 2x rather than having the two separate courses.

 

The weather was also much better than last year. It was a lot warmer than I would have liked but it's difficult to complain about a warm, sunny day on the first day of April. It was a beautiful day in uptown Charlotte!



Seriously, it was a gorgeous spring day in the Queen city.



Plus, anytime that I can snag a picture with a favorite mascot is a good day. Sir Purr was in attendance and I may or may not have stalked him down to get a picture with him. No shame in my game y'all, none.

 

Mile 1

{9:01 / mile pace}

All I could think about in this mile is how much faster everyone in Charlotte is. In Columbia races, after about the first half mile, everyone has kind of settled down into their pace. You're not getting blown off the road by some speedster behind you. You're also not passing too many people unless they're stopping to walk. Um, not the case in Charlotte. I felt like I was getting passed left and right for this entire mile. Thankfully, it was mostly downhill so it was fairly easy running.

 

Mile 2

{9:42 / mile pace}

The temperatures were pretty warm, so I made an unexpected stop at the water station about 1.5 miles into the course... and then walked for a second. Who puts the water station at the bottom of a hill, anyway? While the first half of the race was gloriously downhill, the second half of the race was a long, slow, gradual climb back up to Romare Bearden Park in uptown.

There's a brief change of scenery when you pop onto the greenway for about half a mile though which is pretty nice. A little windy, but not too bad.

 

Mile 3

{10:47 / mile pace}

Oh, mile 3. Last year I took this mile on at an angry running pace after getting off course for a couple of minutes. This year? There was no angry running pace...  just a general disbelief in the hills that we were running up. Would they ever end? By this point, I knew there was no way I was breaking any PRs or finishing in the top of my age group, so I fully indulged in a little walking break... or two. I didn't really see the need in overextending myself and getting overheated on the last bit of the race.

 

Finish

{8:53 / mile pace}

The final tenth of a mile is the best part of this race - it is straight downhill beside the BB&T Park to the finish line. Being able to cruise to the finish is the best, especially after the beast of a hill leading up to it.

 

Final Results

Watch Time - 31:08

Chip Time - 31:08

Pace - 9:47/mile

Age Group - 9/46

Gender - 32/190

Overall - 102/387

 

Three things to note:

1. My running speed is a direct correlation with the temperature outside. Anybody else noticing that I hit my fastest time {and a PR!} back in February when race temps were in the 30s and now that we're hitting 60+ at race start time, my times have gotten slower? #coldweatherrunner over here.

2. The last mile of this race {as soon as you get back off the greenway} is straight up hill, directly into the sun. It was miserable and you can tell that by the 10:47/pace on mile 3. I just wasn't having it.

Other than that, it was another awesome Brain Cancer 5K! It was a great race for an even better cause this weekend. We love being able to support Parker and his family in any way that we can.

My mom walk/ran the race this weekend too, coming in at 46:04. I met her at the top of the final street like last year and we ran down to the finish line together. There, we watched for all of our other friends to finish the race.



A cute little speedster sprinted past us.



This new mama & daddy ran by with their son {not even 2 months old & he's already completed his first 5K!}.



& Parker cruised by with his mom and granddad a few minutes later.



I celebrated the end of the race by taking some race bib pictures with my mom, indulging in some baby snuggles, and dining out at my favorite brunch spot in Charlotte {complete with a glass of prosseco to go with with the pancakes & bacon}







It was a great race weekend!
 

Anyone keeping track of the # of races I've run in this winter/spring? If we're counting the Cold Winter's Day 5K on NYE 2016, I'm at TEN races in about 3 months. But the temperatures are quickly rising and I'm about to call it quits until the fall. I have two more races to go {this weekend & next} before I hang up the 5K shoes for the summertime. Fingers crossed for cool, cloudy mornings for the next two Saturdays!