Race Report: Miracle Miles 5K

Official clock time: 36:22 -- Garmin time: 3.18 in 35:38 / 11:13 pace

It was a beautiful cool morning and I had a fantastic race with huge new PR! My clock time was 3 minutes faster than the clock time 2 weeks ago. This was not a chip-timed event, so we go to the trusty Garmin for the net time comparison. Garmin says I ran 3.18 mi in 35:38 for an 11:13 average pace, again almost 3 minutes faster than my previous 5K 2 weeks ago of 3.2 mi in 38:10 / 11:55 pace. That is fantastic!

Average pace splits:

11:12
11:38
11:12
8:43 (.18 mi)

I love how my pace at the 1st and last mile was the same, but I clearly faded a little in the middle. I think this may have been on purpose because of a fast start. I am glad I slowed down a little in the middle because I had plenty left to really kick it during the last 1/2 mile. I kept telling myself that I felt strong, that I am strong, and it gave me the push I needed to really book it to the end. It was such a great feeling to finish so strong.

The great thing about being a new runner is that I am constantly improving and have yet to push myself as far as I can go, so I can PR almost everytime I race. I know I have more kick in me, but I don't want to push too much too fast and risk injury. It would have been sweet to finish in less than 35, but this is a huge improvement and I am beyond pleased and very proud of myself. When I first started I thought 35 was wicked fast, but here I am running at a sub-11:30 pace! :)

I love how 5Ks are getting easier. While I would love to run the entire time, I'm really liking those little walk breaks because they make the race mentally easier as well. When I am struggling, I just remind myself that all I have to do is tough it out for at most 1/2 a mile then I can walk it off. It makes the time fly by and my speed is improving. At this time in my training, it is better for my ego to improve my speed than to run the whole thing, so I am not worrying about the 5 total minutes I walked. But even my walking breaks got faster! I am telling you, this was a phenomenal race for me.

My dad also ran the race and my mom walked it; Jason took pictures. My dad did great and met his goal of finishing in under 30 minutes (I forget his actual time). He would have totally beat Jason, whose best time so far is somewhere around 33 minutes. Dad used to run and race regularly, including 3 marathons (NYC twice and Disney once), but he had stopped for a while. He had a heart attack over a year ago shortly after starting again, and had not been running since. He was cleared by his doctor and started training a few months ago (shortly after I decided to become a runner) to run the Disney 10K with us in 2 weeks. Maybe we'll do a 1/2 together someday ;) Mom also did great, finishing in about 45 minutes with mostly walking since she had a cold and had surgery to remove her gallbladder a few weeks ago. She is totally hooked and kept asking when the next 5K was :)

It was great to share this with my family. After seeing my dad run race after race when I was younger, it is great to be able to do this together now. I never thought I'd be able to share that with him, but I am well on my way and I can't wait to run my first marathon! :)

Only 2 weeks until Disney's Race for the Taste 10K! Next weekend I'll also be tackling an 8 mile long run. I can't wait!