I needed that! I needed that badly!
I have been putting in a lot of work the last 6 months, heck, even the last 18 months, and it finally paid off!
On Friday night, I ran the Tracksmith 5000 meter race on the track at Hamline, and I bettered my PR by 8 seconds. I felt so strong, and I honestly can't believe I was able to PR by that much.
My previous PR was set in 2016 when I was about 18 months postpartum with Cullen. Up until this weekend, it was the fittest I have ever been, but I think I can say I've surpassed that now, and at the age of 41, I am the fittest I have ever been! (I never thought I would say that!)
To be honest, I wasn't sure what I would be able to do at the race. The week leading into the race was stressful, and I felt in a funk with running. I was ready to hang up my running shoes, and life was a little rocky: nothing major, the boys were at each other more than usual--I think it is time for school to start, my work had built up after our vacation, and I felt like I needed a vacation from our vacation. I had a workout, two Mondays prior the race that went really well, but then the Monday before the race, I only hit one of the prescribed splits in my workout. I know that a solid workout that goes well is not a fluke, but a bad/"failed" workout is! However, going into the race with extra stress, I knew it would make it harder to race at my best.
This was the second time I had done the Tracksmith 5000 race (last year's recap), and if it comes to your area, I'd highly recommend taking part in it. I was a little worried that it would feel intimidating racing on the track, but the race is just a bunch of road runners running on the track. The atmosphere is really encouraging, they are playing upbeat music all night, and my heat lucked out by starting our race right at dusk and finishing under the lights, which was fun.
I spent about an hour warming-up, did some drills, and then I did something I have never done before. I went inside a building, found a quiet corner, and put my legs up on the wall for about 5 minutes. My feet and legs were feeling a little swollen, and I felt like this helped 'flush' them out. While I can't say for sure how much this helped me during the race, my legs felt great, and I will definitely be doing this before my next race! After some more drills and strides, I checked in for my heat, and got instructions for the start of the race.
I was in a heat for those looking to finish between 17:50 and 18:45. My goal of the race was to break my PR of 18:28. (Funny story about this time: for the last 8 years, I actually thought my PR was 18:30, but I happened to look up my time and saw that this was my gun time and not my chip time. *derp!* My chip time was 18:28, so I had to run two seconds faster! I feel like this is such a rookie move not to even realize the difference 8 years ago. Or maybe I didn't even know you could toggle between the two times.) Anyway, there was a pacer for those wanting to run 18:30, and I was just hopeful he did a good job pacing because I thought last year's pacer was pretty hot.
I was in the group on the inside of the track, so I didn't have to worry about cutting in. There were about 20 of us in the pack, and 20 people in the other group, so it felt pretty crowded on the track--especially at the start. I actually spent quite a bit of time running in lane two, which is definitely not ideal. As soon as I start a race, I can almost always tell how I'm going to feel throughout the race. And this race was no different. As soon as we started, the pace felt SO slow! I was thinking, either 'this is not going to get me to an 18:30 finish time' or 'I am really fit.' I couldn't decide which it was, but I peaked at my watch at the 200 and 400 meter mark, and the paces were right about what I wanted to run, so I just stayed where I was.
The first mile felt so good, and I felt really strong. I was towards the end of the pack but would feel good enough to pick it up and pass someone periodically during the second mile, so I would, and pretty soon I was right behind the pacer. At this point, there were four laps left. (I kind of lost track during the middle how many laps I had left. I also had a hard time reading the board with our 'laps to go' listed on them.) But I honestly wasn't even sure I was running the splits I needed. I saw my watch beep for the first mile at 5:48, but I hadn't even made it four laps on the track (which is less than a mile), and I missed mile two on my watch, so I had no idea if I was even running the pace I wanted. However, my gut told me that the pacer was doing a good job, so I stuck with him.
With three laps to go, it started to get hard! I started pulling out all the mental mantras/tricks I could think of: 'hurting means you're doing it right,' 'just get to the next 200 meter mark.' 'every second counts.' Right when I needed it the most, the pacer probably saw me slipping just a bit and said, "Get up on my hip." My mind simultaneously said, "I can't" and "You have to." Luckily I blocked out the negative thought and held on. I knew as long as I got to the bell lap, I could hang on. I glanced up at the clock with 400 meters to go, and I saw 16:55. I knew that my laps had to be 1:29 in order to run the pace I wanted, so I knew I had to book it on that last lap if I wanted a PR. So with one lap to go, I kicked it in, passed the pacer and kept pushing until the finish. I don't have much of a kick, but for once, I actually felt like I was able to find another gear and pick it up. My last 400 split of 1:22 says that's indeed what I did!
I crossed the line, stopped my watch, and I saw 18:21 on my watch. I had done it! I flopped onto the infield, closed my eyes, with my chest heaving, trying to catch my breath. Probably not what you're supposed to do, but I didn't care.
I honestly still can't believe I ran 18:20 for the 5K. (Official results had me one second faster than what I timed myself.) Now I will say, I know you can run faster on the track, and I know some people will list a 5000 meter race and a 5K race on their list of PRs. Part of me feels like I need a 5K time on the roads, but the other part of me doesn't care. At this point in time, I think I could run a PR on the roads (as long as it wasn't too hilly) because I did spend quite a bit of time running in lane two and the temperature had of been close to 80 degrees F with some humidity. (If you followed along last year, it was over 90 degrees, and SO hot at this race.) It definitely wasn't as warm this year, but I was still sweating a lot when I was done, and I am not a heavy sweater.
I found my sister and a couple friends to check in with them how they did. After catching up, my friend Suzie and I did a cool-down together. My stomach was not particularly happy about that hard effort so late at night, so a couple emergency bathroom stops were necessary during the cool-down. I finished up around 10:00 p.m., and then drove to my sister's for the night, so I didn't have to make the trek back home (which would have been over an hour).
All-in-all, it was a great night of racing and exactly what I needed to keep going as I have a half marathon in less than two weeks and a 10 mile race at the beginning of October before taking on a marathon later this fall!
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