Racing to Read 5k

It was hot. I thought I was going to die. I felt like my feet were floating. I talked to myself (outloud). I thought about 212 degrees. I met my goal of 25:xx. Another PR!

Ok, here's the race details. This was a large race for a 5k. There were probably 500 or so. Nice technical t-shirt, men's and womens styles. I ran about a half mile warm-up before the race and a couple of strides but really, how much warming up do you need to do when it's already hot outside? There was some confusion at the start as no one seemed to know which direction the race would start. Some stood facing north, some facing south. Anyway, it was sorted out and as I was adjusting my Garmin, the gun (yes it was a gun) went off without any forewarning. I looked up and realized we were starting to run!

My goal on these 5ks is to go out fast and try to hold on. So far it seems to be working for me although it inevitably results in positive splits that don't look as pretty as the negative ones. The course was incredibly pretty. The race was in Covington, Kentucky. We ran North down to the riverfront (Ohio River for the geographically challanged among us) past some beautiful antebellum houses. Gorgeous! Then back uptown on an pretty old tree-lined street that reminded me of parts of New York. When I saw the finish up ahead about 200 meters, I literally thought I wouldn't make it. But I told myself I couldn't walk to the finish, how lame would that be? For a time I thought I might beat 25:00 but when I saw the clock said 25:55 I started a new mantra that went like this: "Oh, s***! Oh, s***!" It must have worked, because according to my Garmin, my finish time was 25:59. Not much margin of error there, so I hope my official time is something similar.

Here are those lovely splits:
Mile 1 7:58
Mile 2 8:29
Mile 3 8:3
1.12 8:11

AVG PACE: 8:19 Yee! Haw!