Another 5K PR: I Could Get Used to This!

I ran the Spooktacular 5K in cold and windy conditions on Saturday, October 27, 2012.  This race held my old 5K PR (20:01).  It is a fairly flat course and at a good time of year for running fast.  The weather is cool, and marathon season has begun.  Many people dress in costumes for this race and run just for fun (like my friend Julia who dressed up as a nose!), but there are also plenty who race more seriously instead.

So I got a 19:33 today!  Now that I have gotten two 5K PRs in two weeks (19:40 last week), I don't know why it took me so long to get these lower times.  Why did I stay at the 20 minute range for so long?  I think a part of why I am doing well right now is that I am looking at these races as "last chances."  I am trying to give them all I've got.  

I am vain.  I did not want another bad race picture (see my last two entries!), so I managed to watch my form and give a smile to our great local photographer, Gregg Gelmis, who is always out at the races taking pictures.  I really like the picture he took (see below) which was taken at Mile 3 when I was feeling VERY tired!

Mile 1--6:12  I intentionally went slower than last week's 1st mile.  I knew that was a bad idea last week and I wanted more even splits today.  Trailed behind same two girls--Candace and Kathy plus newer-to-Huntsville runner Kylie.

Mile 2--6:25  Windy and alone for this section.  Hard to stay motivated!

Mile 3--6:16  Was asking myself, "How bad do you want this?" because I really wanted to slow down.  I kept trying to catch Kylie (who was being paced by her husband) to no avail.

Finish time 19:34 (19:33 chip time) 6:18 pace 4th OA Female 

Rick also PRed today, and we brought our kids and tried out some new babysitters who met us at the race.  

I would love to work on whittling this time down even more, but I am not sure how many more 5Ks I will be doing in the next few months.  The next PR I would LOVE to beat is my 10K time.  It is the only one from my days before having kids that I haven't beaten on this side.  I would also love to get where I feel good while running one of these things.

Start line (I am to far right behind mustache guy :))
All photos by Gregg Gelmis of We Run Huntsville

I am smiling at the camera---not wanting any more bad picture of me!!!!
(near left about 3 rows back)

Finishing a PR 5K!