I got up at 5:30A in order to arrive in time to park and prep for the race, but it was a good morning and I was feeling like a good run was in my future. I had my favorite race breakfast: a bagel and cream cheese and some OJ. I grabbed my Nike+ kit and was out the door. I kicked myself because once I parked and got to the race site I realized I'd completely forgotten to check the Orlando Women Runners pages for information on a meet-up at the race, so I missed the picture the group took (I was sad), but just before the race I saw Salina and her friend Angela. I was really glad I bumped into a couple OWR ladies after all.
The race was in Mead Gardens, a really lovely area. I seeded my self at the 9-minute mile marker; big mistake! I totally didn't realize how well I've been training because it's a bad sign when you pass people through the entire duration of the race. That means you didn't seed yourself accurately. In other words, I should have been at the 8-minute mile marker because then I wouldn't have wasted several minutes and energy on passing that group of people. Any way, lesson learned for next time.
My race was especially great because while I was able to continuously push myself and run hard, I was also boosted from all the passing I did! I had one major blip 0.2 miles from the finish where I was so focused that when I saw a timer (one of a couple timers that are only to inform runners of the time elapsed - not the finish line) I stopped and ended my run on my Nike+ kit! Then I realized I wasn't quite at the finish line. That mishap along with the mis-seeding hurt my time, but I'll get it straight next time.
Regardless - and here's the best part of the race - I dropped 1'23" on my 5K time!!! I went from 28'08" down to 26'45"!!! That's fantastic for such a short race (3.1 miles). So I was really happy. At the end the volunteers were passing out fresh strawberries, bananas and water bottles - perfectly satisfying, let me tell ya! And! There was a garden sponsor there who gave out free plants! I have a baby philodendron of some type (no tag and the guy who was passing them out wasn't sure which type it was). I am going to buy a little pot and put it in my office! = )
The image below outlines how my race went by the numbers. It's a smaller image, but you can click to enlarge.
-Amanda
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