Race Report: ATC Hearts & Soles 5K

I wish I had the opportunity to take full advantage of this race and run it as a couples’ race complete with costume competition.  Alas, The Mister is no runner.  He was a college sprinter on the pre-Olympic track until he got injured senior year.  I think he told me he ran a 43 second 400m back then which seems absolutely unreal to me.  The fastest 400m I’ve ever run was a 1:23 and I seriously almost threw up after that.  Anyway, he’s a total distance snob since he was a sprinter and rather than join me in a new pursuit he would prefer to sit on the couch or maybe run a mile or two max.  SMH.

So I lined up alone Saturday morning in the freezing cold – seriously it was 30 degrees F and my first run in sub-zero temps!  I wore my Nike Hyperwarm shirt and my Nike training hoodie with a short-sleeve T as a base and was sufficiently “race warm” though.  A double layer of thumbholes from my outer layers and the gloves I received at the Red Top Rumble actually prevented my fingers from freezing for once.  Or maybe sitting in the warm car until 4 minutes before race start was the cause of that phenomenon LOL.

The race starts and I’m immediately on the move.  I haven’t run a road 5K since October and I was hoping to see a bit of improvement.  This race had a great turnout for a track club race (the couples thing perhaps) so I was bobbing and weaving and dodging a ton of people.  I was a little annoyed that we quickly ran into two inclines when this race was billed as a fast flat course.  A long incline then gave way to a nice downhill portion which I appreciated but was wary of the uphill return.

I glanced down at my Polar and saw an 8:30-ish pace and decided to turn it up because that pace wasn’t going to break any records for me.  The course did indeed turn into the fast, flat course that was billed so I started to really go for it.  There was no interesting scenery on the road so I had nothing else to concentrate on but my the beat of my music, controlling my breathing and trying to maintain a good cadence.   I ran the first mile in 8:34 min and the second in 7:53.  Maybe a little focus and less scenery is a good thing!

The last mile became very challenging.  I was feeling the effects of a speedy second mile but really wanted to suck it up and just deal.  I tried to stay fast and focused but I ended up taking two brief walk breaks.  I fast counted to 20 and then restarted running so they were short and sweet breaks.  I needed the catch my breath moments  at that point because I was starting to feel sick to my stomach with the effort of running fast.

In that last .5 miles, everything in me wanted to walk again.  Oh how I hate 5Ks where every second counts!  Of course, this last .5 mile section just had to include the decline that I coasted down at the start which was now a hill to tackle.  Nonetheless, I was not going to walk anymore if it killed me and kill me it might because I was truly feeling like I had to hurl.  The finish line was in sight though and I was not going to wuss out no matter what may happen at the end.  I sprinted.

The finish clock read 24:55 when I crossed (without vomiting thanks).  A sub-25 minute 5K attained!  My running watch time was 24:33.  This was good news because I knew that my best 5K was 24 something so I might possibly have a new PR on my hands.  A real PR that actually compares to my pre-pregnancy race times.  I just might be “back.”

I later found out that my official chip time was 24:31 so the PR was not to be.  I felt kind of annoyed at myself knowing that if I hadn’t taken those two very brief walk breaks, I might have made a PR with a slim margin.  Every second truly counts in a 5K, huh?  No worries though because there were many great things about this run:

• I almost nabbed a 5K PR without even enacting the 5K specific training I plan to do later this Spring.  This bodes well for the future!
• I shaved 2 minutes off my last 5K time in October.
• I finished 7th out of 42 women in my age group.  Not bad!  I was 2 seconds shy of getting 6th place and 1:30 away from taking 3rd.  That gives me a concrete goal to shoot for with my later training.
• My Polar running index for this run was 50 which is almost considered “Good” (>= 52) to them instead of the “Average” category I tend to fall into.  My highest running index thus far has been 46.  This means I am improving which is always good news.

I have another shot at a good 5K time at the new Locomotive Thunder 5K this Sunday.  I don’t know if I have it in me to run it hard like I did this one – we’ll see.  The race promotion says it is a lightening fast course but I swear all Atlanta races say that and they lie!