Redlegs Run!

I usually avoid 5K runs like the plague. And no, it's not because I think I'm too cool for school, but because 5K races are hard. I've spent so much time training my body to run like the Energizer bunny that when I ask it to run a sprint race, it laughs at me.

However, a few of my girlfriends were doing the Redlegs Run for Home this weekend and it sound like fun - the finish line was on the Reds field and you got free ice cream afterwards. What's not to like here? Since I have been running pretty slow since the Pig and haven't done ANY speed work in almost two months, I was planning to just run it with my friends and not worry about finish time. Yeah. Right. Once my bib was securely pinned into place, chip fastened, I decided I would run all out to see what would happen. I was hoping for an 8 minute mile pace.

It was a small field, about 3,400, so we were able to start pretty close to the front. I decided to do a quick warmup jog (probably about 1/4 mile), which I think helped a lot. There were a TON of people with strollers (regular ones, not jogging strollers), and the first part of the course had a large median for us to dodge as well as all the Reds characters in the middle of the road. Was kind of entertaining. The course itself was pretty flat and I spent the first mile pushing it hard but still feeling comfortable - first split was sub 8:00. Hmm, not bad. I blew by the first water stop to keep the momentum going thinking I would hit the stop at mile 2.

Mile 2 had a couple of hills so my split was closer to 8:00. By this point, it was really hot and I was panting and drooling like a Great Dane...and there was no water stop. Nice work, Ives. Luckily we hit a downhill and I was able to pump the gas, motivated by the fact that I could see the front of the field (I heart small races). Once we hit the cinder path around stadium, I took off and managed to come in at 24:29 - about a 7:54 clip on average.

I was excited with my finish time, although McMillan thinks I should be closer to a 7:48 pace based on my last marathon time. Perhaps if I actually train I could do this. Ha.

Regardless, it was fun to do a race with my girls and we even saw some of our other co-workers running. Throw in some UDF chocolate ice cream and I was a happy girl. And this whole 30-34 age group thing is working out really well for me, by the way. I rank much better with this crew than the 25-29 year olds. ;-)