Fifth Season 5K Race 2010

Yesterday, July 4th I ran my 4th race of the season.  But the significance of it is the fact that since I just started running a year ago, this was my first repeat race.  I didn't make any great improvement over last year, but I did do better.  My time was 31:27 (10:07 pace); I finished 8th in the W50-54 age group out of 40.

What made this years race a lot of fun was that I did it with three family members.  My daughter Rachelle..i.e., the triathlete of the family, a.k.a. the ironman of the family, and the one who got me started running...raced with myself, and my two sisters, Patty and Cathy.  Last year, Patty and I ran this race together and it was our very first race ever.  Since then we've ran quite a number of races both together and separately.  This year my sister Cathy has entered the running arena and this was her second race ever.  It is really exciting to be doing this TOGETHER!  What a great way for a family to spend time together.

Back to the race - the temperature was pretty good - 75 degrees but the humidity was present.  The fortunate thing was that the rain had held off.  (We had a potential for showers for the entire day.)  Patty, Cathy & I warmed up for about 10 minutes prior to the race, made multiple potty stops and were ready to go when the starting pistol went off.  This course is a very good one.  There is one hill that is very low grade right at the beginning.  I really liked having a downhill run going into the finish line as opposed to my completely opposite experience at the Madison 1/4 Marathon that I just did on Memorial Day!  (That hill about did me in.)  My pace was pretty steady throughout the course but when I was approaching the finish line, I heard my daughter Becca yell out, "Come on Terri!" and a shot of adrenaline poured through me and I kicked it into high gear and really sprinted the rest of the way in.  Mission accomplished.

Going forward I'm going to really work on improving my speed.  Short term goal is to do a 5K in under 30 minutes.  My next race is 8/14/10 - Hobo Days 5K in Britt Iowa.  I know I need to more running in the heat so that I'm more acclimated.  (The humidity really wipes me out.)  Once a week like I've been doing it isn't enough.  So I'm going to try to run one of my weekday runs in the evening when it is warm.  I'm also going to get a running watch that will provide me with pace, heart rate and distance.  Rachelle has recommended that I get the Garmin Forerunner 110.  I'm planning on ordering it this week and I'll post my opinion on it after I get it and have had a chance to use it.  Happy running...