Alright, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel! This was my last of three 5Ks in three weekends. And it was at 8:00 a.m. 😦

Prior to this race, I ran twice during the week. On Monday, that was probably my best run of the year by far, even though the last mile of the four miles felt slow. My breathing was fine, my calves felt fine, and the inside half of my right foot didn’t go numb. I ran a 5K Wednesday inside on the track, and my time was 32:52. Not bad.

I ran this race last year but since this year was the 20th anniversary, they changed the route and start/finish line. Basically instead of starting at one end of a road, we were starting on the other end of the road further down. We ran down the same main road as last year, so I knew there was going to be hills.

This race coincides with the local 4-Town Fair, and we started and ended at the fair grounds this year, which was kind of cool. But it’s your typical small town fair with rides and animals and big vegetables.

When we lined up, we were literally between the food and the rides. The fair opened at 8:00 a.m., but there really wasn’t anyone there. Nothing was up and running; I mean, you could go see the animals, I guess.

Mile 1

For this race, I turned on the voice alerts on my running app to also announce every half mile along with every mile. I wanted to see if this was a good way to pace myself/see how I was doing. I can kind of tell at my half mile time what my mile time will be.

My first mile was 9:49. Not too bad.

Mile 2

So at 1.5 miles was the turnaround, and it seemed like it was never going to come. By this time, people were already running back, and I just kept telling myself to keep going.

I wore a thin long sleeve shirt because it was a little cloudy and breezy when I left my house, but by this time, I was getting hot. I pushed up the sleeves as far as I could and wished I had worn a t-shirt instead.

My second mile was 9:48. Looking good.

Mile 3

Part of this mile was downhill, and as I was running down the hill, I thought to myself, “I don’t remember running up this hill.” I glanced back, and yes, I had in fact run up it on the other side of the road. I guess it was a gradual uphill that I really didn’t notice it, and I was grateful for the downhill.

I slowed down just a little bit around 2.80 miles to catch my breath, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a pack of runners behind me that I didn’t want to pass me, so I started running again.

My third mile was 10:11, and my three mile time was right around 29:50 (!). I knew if I booked it from there I’d get a good time.

Post-3 miles

Thankfully the rest of the run was downhill: there was a downhill in the road itself plus a hill down into the entrance of the fair.

The hills aren’t as bad as I remember them being. I know I had trouble with them last year because I had been running on a flat track. Now I’m running in my neighborhood or on campus, both of which have hills.

We headed over to a table put on by one of the sponsors that had fruit and yogurts. I grabbed a strawberry yogurt since I had only eaten half a bagel and some fruit for breakfast. We hung around for the award ceremony, too.

• 

• 

Next race: I’m 100% signed up for one in December, but I’m thinking about signing up for one in the beginning of October…we’ll see. (I’ll probably sign up for it, what am I saying.)