CES 5K run

Statistics:
Distance: 5K / 3.1 Miles
Time: 28:24

*no map today - I forgot to turn on the tracking. Oops. At least I still got an accurate time!


Observations:

I am so psyched about the 5K race we did today! After Monday's run, I was really anticipating a slower run today. The coaches had asked us to predict our times, and I had made what I felt was an aggressive prediction of 28:30, which didn't take into account the hotter temperatures of this week.

So I set out on the run at what I knew was a challenging pace, but one that I thought I had a decent chance of sustaining. Not 100% sure, because I wanted to challenge myself, but not unrealistic either.

I wasn't sure whether or not I should bring my water belt, but I was really glad I did. I drained that sucker dry!

It was a little weird to not have mile splits. I had no idea if I was going faster or slower than I intended. But when I got to the half-way turnaround, I felt good because it seemed sooner than I thought it would be.

On the second half of the course, I tried to pick off runners one by one. I slowly reeled them in, not so much because I was increasing my pace - I felt like I was still being consistent - but maybe they were slowing down and I wasn't. Anyway, as a point of pride, nobody passed me after the turnaround. :)

I was definitely ready for the run to be over when I got to the last quarter mile or so. I have a way of measuring my breathing by seeing how many steps I take for each inhale and how many for each exhale. At the start, it was 3 steps in, 3 steps out. At the finish, it was closer to 1 in, 1 out. But then it was over, and I found out my time was 28:24! So that was a pretty great feeling because 1) I had accurately predicted my time to within 6 seconds, and 2) the prediction was one I'd considered aggressive for me, even had the temperature been cooler than it was. So I really couldn't be more pleased with the outcome today.


Street Shout-out:
Shout-out to the flock of geese that decided to migrate across our path in the middle of the race. I was happy to see them all safely on the other side of the path by the time I passed by on the return leg.


Next:
Saturday - Soldier Field 10-Mile race!