Race Report: ATC Women’s 5K

I can hardly believe that this is my fourth year running this race or any race for that matter.  This is officially my running streak race.  I’ve come close with the ATC Resolution Run 10K for 3 years.  But in 2010 I was doing my postpartum round of Couch To 5K, so I chose to skip the race until I could actually run all of it.

I started the morning running late as usual.  The race was sold out this year with 2000+ participants so parking in Candler Park was tight.  I had to park about a mile from the race start.  A good ways into my trip to the start, I realized I had left my Ipod in the car.  I had about 20 minutes to race start and as usual I had to use the bathroom too.  Having done this race many times before, I was aware that the bathroom lines were always very long (women, right?).  Here I am again stuck with another critical pre-race decision to make between something and the bathroom!  This time my bladder won out and I left the music behind.  A 5K without music is do-able.

At the race start, I was particularly pleased to see the sheer numbers of brown girls who chose to run this race!  I greeted The Broke Socialite and Fergie in the crowds and DiscoDiva who has probably done this one more times than I have!  Where are all these brown girls at the other track club races?  I wonder if a women’s only race and the shorter distance limits the intimidation factor so more folks are willing to come out?  Interesting.

Anyway, the good thing about having a race course streak is that you can manage your performance expectations.  I know this particular course is very hilly and very crowded for the first 1/2 mile or so.  Having already hit a 5K PR this year and knowing the course, I wasn’t going to try for any heroics here.  I randomly decided I wanted to finish in 25 minutes or less. I wasn’t really thinking of how ambitious that was for this course.  I was just thinking that it was much slower than my last 23:45 so maybe it wouldn’t be too hard to pull off!

At the start there was all the bobbing and weaving that I’ve come to expect from this race.  In spite of them having large “Walker” signs directing walkers to the back, I had to dodge a ton of walkers.  Maybe next year they should consider a wave start for those of us who are a little more competitive (or maybe I should get there earlier and get up front LOL!).  I ended up running on the sidewalk to pass people until I could get to the first big hill.

I made a pact with myself that I was going to run the big hills because my success with hill running has been really hit or miss lately.  Actually I take that back.  I’m not too bad with short quick steep hills.  I just suck on the long slow 1/4 mile inclines that were everywhere during the GA Half, the Thanksgiving Half and this race.  I need to work more on hill endurance if there is such a thing.  Short intense bursts of energy for hills I’ve got in spades.  It’s the long slow leg thrashing inclines I simply can’t take for long.

I ran this first big incline hill without stopping and the first mile was over before I knew it.  The split man said my time was 9:10-ish but I started in the middle of the pack so I knew that was high.  I still thought that was pretty good considering all the people and the already challenging course.  My Polar watch gave me a 8:23 min/mile but I didn’t pay any attention to this at the time.

I tried to run steady in the second mile and continue running all the hills but it started to get to me.  I ran some and walked others.  I was already wishing I had some tunes to motivate me but that was not going to happen.  Instead, I played a little game where I “chased” a girl way ahead of me in a bright pink top and violet running skirt.  Hey – she really stood out!   I passed her at some point but she passed me back when I was walking on a hill.  I came in with an 8:21 split for this mile.

I wanted to pick it up on the last mile and finish strong.  I was really tired though.  I swear I was trying way harder than I intended to on this race!  Why in the world do I do this to myself?  I thought about revising my sub-25 goal to sub-26 and then abandoned the thought as “quitter talk.”  I kept putting one foot in front of the other knowing that it would all be over soon.  A race official said one more big hill and I couldn’t have been happier to hear that news.  I have been in races where they said that and they were totally lying though.

This guy was not lying thank goodness!  After the last hill, we hit the park where the race follows a flat serpentine path and then wraps up.  I always forget how long this portion of the race even though I’ve done it 3 times before.  In my head, we only spend .25 miles in the park.  In reality, it is closer to .5 miles.  At the 3 mile sign, I tried to rally and leave it all out on the course.  I didn’t have too much left to give though.  Why oh why does the last .1 mile of a 5K seem like forever?

I crossed the finish with a chip time of 25:15 which was just off my (quite ambitious in hindsight) goal of 25 minutes or less.  This was a course PR for me.  I ran this is 26:21 back in 2008.  Nice improvement!  I finished 17th out of 302 in my age group.  I really did manage to pick it up during the last mile decreasing my pace to 7:54.  I do not remember if I ultimately ended up passing or being passed by the girl in the violet skirt at the end.

So this is not my favorite race but I totally do it for the T-Shirt (a nice turquoise blue women’s fit shirt).  The weather is usually perfect – not too warm and not too cold.  The course is actually quite pretty in parts but it is hard to appreciate that when you are in the midst of the hills.  It guess this has become a Spring tradition for me – like it or not.