WOW - 2nd Overall..... and a New PR!

I really just don't know quite what to say.

Today was just awesome. You have to understand that 1 year ago, the Inaugural Saratoga 5k Fun Run was my very first race since I had run back in high school. To put that into perspective.... I am 38 now. Last year for this race I was 50 lbs heavier and came in dead last. You can see last years results here. You can see more about my running journey here, and my overall journey here, but for now back to the race.

Yes, you read that right.... I came in SECOND OVERALL! It was not a really big race, but it more than doubled from the first year when I think there was a total of 27 runners. Today I think the total runners was somewhere in the 50's, which is not bad considering this is a very hard and hilly course. It really and truly is the hardest course I have run. To give you an idea, here is a shot of the elevation:

I started the race near the front of the pack, and the Chik-Fil-A cow was there and was starting off the pack. I was following him and trying to go around him when he stepped over right in front of me and I ran into him.... that had to be a sight to see! I almost fell over! I ran for the first 1/2 mile with a pack of runners and then started to pull away a bit from them when we got to the first hills. When I was almost to 1 1/2 miles I started to round a corner when one of the course volunteers said "you can catch him"...... What? Him? not Them? I was pleasantly surprised, but I had thought there may only be one in front of me. I ran the rest of the race kinda watching my shoulder to make sure nobody was coming up on me..... It was so much fun! The first place finisher finished in 21:xx and my time was 23:23.

I haven't run a 5k since January because my training turned towards my First Half Marathon. I have only run one 10K during that time as well. One of the cool things is that this race set a new PR for me! 23:23! And that was on a very difficult course to boot! I can't wait to see what I can do on a normal course. I heard a couple people mention that this race was 4 minutes longer than a 5k they ran just the week before. And I think they were in the 20's so that is quite a difference. I don't think it would be that much of a difference for me, but maybe a minute or two.

Here is my splits on my running log: link Robbie said the race results will be up tomorrow, I will update the post when they are posted.

Well, the results are in and my 2nd place stood :) Here is the results from today >> link and some pics as well >> link Hey..... I even got honorable mention on the front page. Thanks Robbie!

First Sub-50 10k - 48:03

Well, to keep with tradition, I went out too fast, but this time with the distance it didn't hurt me. My first mile was just over 7:00 and I knew I was going out fast. I almost got tripped up a couple times with everyone standing along the edge trying to jump into the race when it started. That really irritates me.

I had a goal, as mentioned in this post, to get sub 55 so I could get a decent seeding for the Peachtree Road Race 2008 on July 4th. I secretly wanted to get a sub 50, but really didn't think I would be able to do so considering how my runs have been going lately.

The morning started off better than I expected, it wasn't too cold at about 50 degrees..... but that was at home out in the suburbs. When we got to Atlanta at about 7:15 AM it was really windy and felt more like about 40. I opted to run with my running pants and a long sleeve shirt as opposed to the shorts and short sleeve shirt like I originally planned.

I started the morning at 5:45 with a cup of coffee, a banana, and half of a soft wheat bagel. I drank a lot of water, and about 12 oz of gateraide right before leaving the house at 6:30. I rode down with my neighbors and right before the race they gave me a couple CLIF Shot Blocks. I vowed to never try something new on race day, but I broke that vow today. I feel pretty comfortable with the 10k distance so I figure I could suffer through it if I make a mistake.

As previously mentioned I started off a bit fast, as I knew I would. My first mile was just over 7:00 minutes, but then I settled into a good pace for the rest of the race between 7:45 and 8:15 for a average mile of 7:44. I missed the 5 mile marker so my mile 5 and mile 6 times were an average of the two which worked out to be almost exactly 8:00 each.

I was very happy with the course, it circled around a couple times, but kept us guessing as to where we were going. We did have a decent size hill that we had to climb just after the first mile, and because we had just passed the mile marker for mile 4 we knew we were going to be doing this hill again.

The 5k runners were finished, obviously half way through, but we also saw the 6 mile marker when we were passing there so we knew what our finish was going to be like well before time to enter the chute. This was nice, so we knew when we could turn it on near the end.

The most aggravating part of the entire race was at just past the 5 mile marker (which I didn't see...) all the 5 k walkers were completely covering the entire road. I, as well as many of the other 10k runners, had to go over into the part of the road that was not marked off just to get by the walkers. I am sure this cost me at least 1 second :)

I was happy that the race still went on as planned. As many of you heard I am sure, Downtown Atlanta got hit by tornado's on Thursday night which was the first time in history. It did a lot of damage downtown, but did not affect Midtown or Atlantic Station where this race was set to run.

I am pumped! This was a nice race to bring back some of my confidence. I haven't been feeling really good during my training runs lately and have been getting a bit discouraged. This really makes me again look on the bright side, and will help me with my training I am sure.

The official results are not yet posted on their website, and the pics are not yet posted either. I will update the post and/or post a new one when they do.

• Official time: 48:03 (I hung around to get my official time on paper for the Peachtree)
• Place: 33 in my age group (I have a tough age group) yea yea - I hear ya! :)
• My Race log of this race showing my splits.
• ShamRock 'N Roll official Website

**update** Well, the official race results are in, and my place changed from 33 to 34. I was 34th out of 74 in my age group and was 154th out of 789 overall. The official race results are here for the overall, and here for the age groups. They have the pics up too, but haven't found a good one yet.