Race Recap… My Newest Running Talent or Maybe a PR

I’m not going to lie, I was pretty bummed that the course was short yesterday but after a bit of feeling bummed I decided to look at it like I hit a new pr (for 2.86 miles;) instead.  Or maybe I need to write a book on how to really run the tangents well during a race because somehow 3.1 miles turned into 2.86 miles because of how well I angled my running on the turns.  I kid.

The Skyester is currently teething (and it breaks my heart… those teeth are so sharp coming through her gums) so I was up with her a few times Monday night (Andrew was not feeling great at all) but then got up out of bed at around 6:20 a.m. and got out the door pretty fast.

Both girls ended up sleeping in until about 20 minutes before I got home from the race so it worked out nicely.

I drove over to the starting line area, ate my jam sandwich in my car and drank 32 ounces of water.  Then I went out for a 2 mile w/u and my body was feeling cranky but like I said last week, I’d be more worried if my body wasn’t feeling that way during the warm-up because that is what always happens for me.  9:55 average for warm-up.

I did some dynamic drills (the ones I do are in this post) to get my range of motion going and loosen up my muscles.

Next—>  switch from my warm-up shoes to my speed shoes.

I didn’t time everything very well so I actually finished warming up about 30 minutes before the race so I did a little tiny jog and dynamic stretches again right before the race along with taking some caffeine.

July 24th is a holiday in Utah so that is why we had a huge 5k on a Tuesday.  For this race you start at one LDS temple and end at another.  It is the only place in the world where there are two LDS temples so close to each other in the world (there are 159 LDS temples throughout the world).

The first year (this was the 6th year) they held this race they planned on 300 people doing it and 5000 people showed up ha!

They had a prayer at the beginning of the race which I thought was cool because I’ve never done a race where that happened.  I usually just say my own in my head:)

They asked that the people with timing chips (you had to buy those but it was free to just run the race without one) or speedsters to go out first.  I had a timing chip so I went for it.

It was all kind of a blur.  For the first 1/2 mile I felt like I was going to throw up.  I didn’t get nervous until a few minutes before the race started and I texted Andrew and my mom about it.  Andrew had great advice for me and I loved what my mom said about thinking about Skye’s pudgy legs.  I did just that a few minutes into the race and it helped me a lot haha!

The first mile is FAST!  It was down until about .85 miles and I held back a bit because I didn’t want to absolutely die.  I was getting passed left and right but after the first mile I was only passed by one girl (and then I passed her again a few minutes later) and did some passing of other girls so I was pretty happy with myself for going out smart for me personally.

Mile #1- 5:57

My coach set a speed limit for mile #2 @ 6:30 and I broke it and did a 6:20 (I was feeling so good!).  I hope she forgives me for this:)

Mile #3- My coach told me to match mile #3 with mile #1 with the time but I didn’t quite get there because I was holding back a bit thinking the course would be 3.1…. 6:04 average pace for the .86 miles.

Something that I used during the race was what Steph R said on Monday, “I always take it one mile at a time and when it hurts, I just keep telling myself “You can do anything for one mile!”  Repeat that a few times and before you know it, you are crossing that finish line- short and sweet:)”

The race was FREE and so well organized so I can’t complain about it being short… but I wish I would have just kept running somehow by going through the finish line and then turning (the finishing shute was full of people) and running hard until my watch hit 3.1.  This was my first time running the course.  You turn a corner at the end and then boom there is the finish line… so I probably would have run it a little differently if I knew it was short….  Next time right?!

The second temple that you finish at:

It would have been quite surprising if I hadn’t worn my garmin and thought that I really had gone 3.1 miles according to the results they give you;)  PS my friend said and her garmin read 2.86 too.  She said they moved the starting line from last year for some reason and that is why it was shorter.

Only 361 of us bought the time chips. I’m guessing those that did were the people that were really looking to race it so that is why it says there were 361 people at this race in the results.  I was 2nd overall for the women with timing chips but I do know there was a total of 3 women ahead of me total (I watched the finish line video:)  I’ll take 4th overall.

So I had an excellent 4.6k and I’m happy with that:)  I don’t know if this is an accurate test of my fitness right now because of how downhill that first mile was but the second and third mile I felt really strong so I’m excited about that.    I’m guessing on a flat 5k here I would probably be closer to a 6:15 average.  BUT after I finished this I felt like I had finished a track workout, not a race… hmmm I don’t know where the heck I am at:)

Saturday will still be a workout for me during a half marathon race.  My marathon is 2 months and 11 days away from today!  With each week that I am feeling more and more like myself the bigger my goals are becoming for my next marathon.

Why fear failure… I want to dream big.

At this point in my life one of the biggest reasons I run is for races… they are just so fun for me.  I love being surrounded by all of the other runners, doing something 100% just for me and pushing myself to new levels.  Just need to work on that first 1/2 mile of nerves.

I saw one of my students from the high school that I used to teach at in the finish line area.  She was on the cross country team that I coached so I was very happy to see that she is still loving to run.

From there I ran back to my car.  I forgot one minor detail—>  I didn’t have my other pair of shoes to cool down in so I wore my racing flats for the cool down.

I took it nice and easy on the way back and ran through my old stomping grounds—>  BYU.

7.72 miles for the day.

Please do not judge me too harshly but McDonalds fries were CALLING my name.  So after I had a protein bar, these beauties made it into my life.    I am about to make a big statement here—>  I think McDonalds french fries are better than all other french fries.

I was texting my brother about the race and how it was short but too bad that 17 minutish 5k wasn’t real for me because I would have beat him!

PS reader Katharine met him on his flight yesterday!  He was one of the pilots for her Southwest flight to Boston.  Make sure to always check if my brother is your pilot on Southwest because he says it makes him feel really cool in front of his crew when people know him.

Here’s what the rest of the day looked like:

A goat on a leash.

SUCH a fun craft for kids… a wood board, nails and string.  I did the wood/nail part and she did the string part.  The nails on the bottom spell out Brooke:)

Lots of time in my OOFOS (I SWEAR BY THESE, my feet are so much happier now) and my Roll Recovery R8!

Knox came over early so we got to hang out and go see fireworks with him!

Also, does anybody else go to gas stations sometimes just to get pebble ice?  I LOVE this stuff.

I need a pebble ice machine.

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Where do you think the best french fries are from?

Ever had a race that was cut pretty short?

Any other pebble ice fans?  I like chewing on them after the water is gone!

What is your next race?  FILL ME IN WITH THE DETAILS!