Another first!
Last weekend we ran the Breathe Easy 5K, sponsored by the lovely ladies of the Valdosta Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, Inc. Proceeds from the event were donated to Children’s Medical Services of Valdosta, an agency that helps children in our area receive treatment for asthma.
It was a beautiful morning for a run and many of our regulars were in attendance. Of course there were plenty of pictures. After all, if you don’t post it on social media it didn’t happen. Amirite?
Although this was the first time we have participated in this race, the course was similar to a favorite route. Delta Sigma Theta did a wonderful job with race support. Their volunteers were placed at every turn to cheer on the runners, and they had two water stops. It was fantastic!
The first mile turned out to be my strongest. My usual pattern is to get faster as I go. I’m not sure what happened with this run but that didn’t happen. Joey started out ahead of me again. I think he had ideas of crossing the line ahead of me. He could have all the ideas he wanted but it wasn’t going to happen. I caught up with him at the end of the first mile. We played “cat & mouse” for about half a mile, and then I pulled away. The road was shady and there was a little breeze coming through the trees. Life was good.
But the second mile…brutal. I don’t know why. I wasn’t hot or tired; something was just “off.” I pressed on, waving at the volunteers and giving them a thumb’s up. Despite not feeling quite right my time was good. Very good, in fact. On track for a PR. How awesome would that be? Two back-to-back PRs.
I caught up with another runner and we yo-yo’d from the halfway point to the end. She and I were pretty evenly matched and it was great to battle through the last half of the race with her. As we came down to the last half mile, I saw another friend up ahead. His running pace is very similar to Joey and I, and it’s always fun to compete with him. This time I couldn’t quite catch up with him. Better luck next time. I’m coming for you, Alex!
The final stretch was a gradual downhill. I knew from Runkeeper that I would PR. The clock came in to focus and I saw 37 minutes. What the what?!? Where did that come from? I put everything I had into those last few yards and crossed the line at 37:30 (Runkeeper’s time).
I just couldn’t catch my friend. One more bite of Wheaties and I might have passed her.
Wow!! 38 seconds faster than my previous PR. I gladly took the water and cold-pack from the volunteer and basked in my accomplishment. Joey was just over a minute behind me.
We found our friends and parked ourselves in a shady spot. Picture time!
The Details:
Finish time: 37:30 (Runkeeper) 12:05 min/mile pace
Splits:
- Mile One: 11:51
- Mile Two: 12:24
- Mile Three: 12:15
Playlist:
Through Glass (Stone Sour), Dreaming (Blondie), Over the Hills and Far Away (Led Zeppelin), Hey Jealousy (Gin Blossoms), Desert Rose (Sting), Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin), Nothin’ At All (Heart), Solsbury Hill (Peter Gabriel), Midnight Blue (Lou Gramm)
As always, #werun4Chasten #alpha1awareness #alpha1antitrypsindeficiency #whoirun4
englishmuffinruns.com 