Race Report: Locomotive Thunder 5K

I got sick on Friday.  I went to work that morning and left after lunch with a stomachache.  I literally spent the rest of the day and night sleeping.  I felt better Saturday but wasn’t much into food for most of the day.  I felt much better Sunday but still not 100% right.  This did not bode well for any type of PR at the the Locomotive Thunder 5K.  I figured I’d just run it and get back home.

This race was held at my local mall and promised a fast, flat course.  I swear every race director in Atlanta says that their course is flat and I brand them all liars unless we are talking about the Silver Comet Trail.  There will always be some tough spots – maybe not trail hills but a few 4-5% incline hills in there.  That stuff really makes a difference when you are running or maybe I am just super incline sensitive.  In any case, due to past experiences with “flat” Atlanta courses I wasn’t expecting very much.

The temps were in the low fifties and the sun was shining.  This was a nice change for a short race – if this was a half-marathon I would be complaining about that weather though LOL!  I sported running capris and a short sleeve technical T-Shirt.  Hard to imagine that just a few weeks ago, I ran a 5K in sub-zero temps!

While heading over to registration, I immediately spotted K. Rock of The Food Stamp and Mr. K. Rock.  Cute couple and just from a short conversation I can see totally see the energy that comes across in her writing.  The Rocks headed to their car to warmup and I hit the registration table.  All my typical pre-race business (including a port-o-potty stop…must figure out a cutoff time with drinking water to avoid this!) was handled in 10 minutes and I had 30 minutes to kill.  I went back to the car to continue devouring “The Hunger Games” before getting in a quick warmup.  One day I will figure out a better pre-race warmup routine that actually includes running a mile or so.  I’m a little lazy sometimes though.  Right now, I just do my dynamic warmup/mobility exercises from CrossFit and take a very short jog.

With very little ceremony, the race was on!  The race was held at a local mall that I visit quite often so this was familiar territory via automobile.  A double loop course in a mall parking lot sounds really boring right?  I think the location worked to my advantage though because I loved it. I knew exactly where I was and could track how long I had to go by the store layout rather than my Polar mileage or the mileage guys.  Just make it to the Sears or just make it to the Food Court somehow plays better for me mentally than .7 miles to go, you know?

My slightly shaky stomach disappeared with the excitement of getting started and I decided that I was going to run this race.  No missed PRs by 5 seconds allowed this time.  I dodged a lot of people at the beginning so as not to waste time.  I flew past some more people don’t understand the benefits of a running downhill (you go fast without a lot of effort!).   I passed a lot of people and then settled into a nice little groove when we began to run the outer mall course.

I started to get a good feeling about this race at the mile mark when I realized that there weren’t really that many people in front of me with the exception of the elites who were long gone.  I also got a boost when I checked my first mile pace and saw 7:53.  This was much better than my last 5K even with all the shuffling around at the beginning – good sign.

I focused on staying strong and steady for Mile 2 because things don’t usually get ugly for me until 1.5 miles in.  That’s the point where I start to feel like “Why am I running so hard?” and “It sure would be nice to take a walk break!”  Since this was the mall course though, I focused instead on making it back around to the JC Penny’s and looking forward to hitting the 2 mile mark at Macy’s.  Second mile was done in 7:32 which meant there was no way I was going to slow down and no freaking way I was going to walk AT ALL.  This was PR time.

I told myself that I was on track to run the fastest 5K I’ve ever run and not to screw it up.  I passed the Mile 2 mark at the Macy’s and looped past the back of the pack walkers.  When you are tired and trying your hardest not to walk you really don’t want to see a bunch of people walking!  I had to get past that whole scene so I made it a point to run even faster to get away from that.

I didn’t have any queasy stomach like last time so it was easier to accept the pain and it was painful.  I wanted to stop, Lord knows I did.  I wanted a PR more though so I did what I had to do.  I sucked it up and ran up a tiny hill near the Food Court.  I took deep breaths to help control my breathing a bit more.  I kept my eyes on the outer shopping center that marked the final bits of the course.  I ferociously attacked the incline (that was an enjoyable decline at race start) because I was NOT going to walk this race.

Before I knew it, the finish line was in my site.  A couple of folks sprinted by me but I didn’t have a sprint finish in me because I truly left it all out on the course (and that last incline).  I kept my pace though and smiled when I saw that the numbers on big old clock were in the 23 minute range because I knew then that I had my 5K PR.  This was my PR at any distance since having a baby and man it felt good!

My chip time was 23:45 giving me a PR of 42 seconds.  I finished 5th out of 23 in my age group, 16th out of 211 women and 77th out of 395 overall participants.  The best part?  I met my goal of winning an age group award early!  The top two women in my age group, one being an elite runner who finished in 16 minutes or so, were the top two female runners overall.  That means they get factored out of the age group awards and my 5th place is suddenly good for 3rd place!  I’m going to pick up my prize today because I left after I finished since I never win anything.  My mouth literally fell open when I looked at the award winners list and saw my name.

It feels good y’all!  I managed to achieve one of my goals for 2011 already.  Plus my performance at this race makes me hopeful for getting more dramatic PRs for the 10K and half-marathon distance later this year.  This is going to be a great running year.  I can feel it.