Sunday, May 15, 2011

Race Recap Ryan's Run 5k

Woke up to a cold overcast windy day.  Boo.  I was really hoping for high forties low fifties and  sunshine so i could wear a tank and a running skirt.  I still wore a skirt, but did opt for a jacket over my short sleeve shirt as it was 41 degrees and windy.

The starting line was NOT well organized and when they said GO it was a little bit of chaos.  Finally, wove through a bunch of people to easy open running and t felt tired at the half mile mark,  ugh.  The whole first mile was into the wind and we went into a tunnel, where my garmin lost reception, the wind was really killer in the tunnel.  We turned out of the wind at the mile mark so that we could run uphill for half a mile.  and my right shoe UNTIED itself, the darn thing was DOUBLE knotted.  I was not about to stop to tie it, so I ran with it untied the rest of the way. I hate that, but I didn't want to ruin my rhythm. With the way I was feeling I was afraid I'd never get going again.

The rest got easier, got to go downhill some and run with the wind for a while.  I finally felt like I was falling into a good pace at the start of the third mile, it ended up being the fastest mile at 6:41 min/mile pace.The whole last half mile there was some guy right behind that sounded like he stomping and breathing really hard.  I was not about to let him pass me. He didn't!   I couldn't believe how off I felt today.  It was a little discouraging.  I am wondering how much of it was mental, but usually I feel so on fire through the whole first mile.  That was not there today.

Still ended up first in my age group and second female overall, so I was happy with that! The first place female was only 8 seconds in front of me, and in her 50's.  It was a little inspirational to be beat by someone in her fifties.  It makes me feel good that when I am her age maybe I can still be this fast too.

I remembered my camera but forgot my memory card so sigh no pictures.  I was so bummed.  Really wanted to get a picture with my cross country buddy from high school.  Time was 21:01. So not a bad time not sure that it was a full 5k, it might have been about .05 ish short  hard to tell since it lost reception in the tunnel.

So for a 5k this is a personal best time, it wasn't really 3.1, but 3.05ish.  (I was in a tunnel for about 15-20 seconds) so not sure on exact distance.



Does that still count towards a personal best?  
I'm going to take it because as far as me and my garmin can tell none of the 5ks that I have done have been exactly  3.1 miles.

What do you  guys think, do you count it even if it is short or long on distance? 
I think I will as long as it is within a tenth of a mile. SOOOO  NEW personal best for me today and I was feeling like crap.

Does it make anyone else crazy when races aren't the EXACT distance they are supposed to be? 
 Yes this drives me nuts, maybe I'm a little Type A over this, which usually I am not very type A!

11 comments:

  1. Great race. That time is awesome. I hate when I forget my camera at race day. I'm lucky tho my running partner has I Phone so she always has we always have a camera. We just have to remember to take pictures.

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  2. What a great time!! And good for you not letting that guy pass you! I definitely forgot my camera for my FIRST half marathon 2 weeks ago...I was kicking myself for that one...haha!

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  3. Wow great race girl that is awesome. I would definitely count it! I do not mind when races are short but hate when they are long. I ran a half marathon a few months ago that ended up being 13.47 and I was so mad!

    You are an amazing runner and I am so impressed with you. Keep up the great work. :)

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  4. Count it and take it!! Great Job!!

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  5. I think it totally counts! Awesome job! It drives me crazy too, especially since the last time this happened to me was for a 10k. I pushed myself to run the entire thing, and I did, but found out after it was 0.2 miles longer. Given that it was through the woods near a beach, there was a lot of sand and tree roots. I was in rough shape by the end!

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  6. Congrats! Take it as PR for sure, the Garmin measurements are never exact!
    How inspiring that the woman in front of you was in her 50s! This makes me happy, I have lots of years left to improve!
    :)

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  7. Thanks for the comment on my blog! I am a nerd about numbers, so I love all the heartrate data that the garmin provides, haha I guess it also helps me because going into races I have a better plan as to how hard I can go and still be able to maintain the entire race.

    Great race! Sounds like the race went well overall despite the untied shoe and the crazy start. In another 5K with better start conditions I could see you getting like 20:00 or 20:30 maybe...

    And I would say definitely count the time as a PR. Garmin's never show the exact distance for a race (because it is an inexact science with garmin satellite tracking and also the course is measured based on the shortest route possible to take), so unless the race director tells the race participants that the race is actually too short, you ran the correct distance.

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  8. Wow, you're fast!! I love nerding out over running numbers. So easy to obsess, but nice that you can just work on challenging yourself to do better. It does bug me when my clock shows a different distance... grrr. Thanks for stopping by my blog.

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  9. Dude, you are crazy fast! I hope one day I can be that good!
    Congrats on an awesome race!! :D

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  10. Yes, I think that race distance and Garmin distance differ often. The more races I run, the more I see that happening. So, congrats on your PB!

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  11. That's amazing! Very inspirational! You should totally count it. :)

    BTW, I love the name of your blog!

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