This race was held in downtown Lexington this past Saturday and was the first 5K I’ve done in over a year. It was nice to do a race in the city I actually live in. I had kind of forgotten how convenient that is. But, the race started at 8pm and the weather could not have been better! It was cooler for August, the sun was starting to go down, and the humidity was low. Perfect.
My main mistake though was starting too far back. I had a fear of starting too close to the front and making faster people angry. This backfired though because I ended up being behind walkers. As I sped up I got caught behind mom’s with strollers. Man, I really wish there had been corrals. But it was a 5K, so I obviously understand why there wasn’t one.
Anyways, my first mile was spent zigzagging my way around the walkers and strollers. I felt that this mile would be my slowest of the three but I actually clocked in at 8:12. Nice!
My goal was to set a new PR which meant I needed to go under 26:08. This was a flat, fast course so I was pumped to see what I could do!
During my second mile I came across an old co-worker so I made sure to say hello and then continued on my way. At the 1.5 mile mark you turn around and head back downtown. After I made the turn I came across another old co-worker so I said hello to her as well and kept trucking.
Mile 2 came in around 8:42 if I remember correctly. Slower than what I needed to finish with a PR.
I kept running, but at this point I was starting to get tired and the finish line seemed so far away. During this last mile I passed a friend who was walking the race and we exchanged shouts across the street. It was a nice distraction from the pain developing in my left leg.
In the end, I came across at 26:30 with my last mile clocking in at 8:29. 22 seconds away from my PR. But, you know, for a summer race at night, I think I’ll take it! It felt good (albeit hard) to run those miles at that pace, but it makes me excited for my fall half marathon! Sub-2 hour half, I’m comin’ for ya!
The awesome part of this race was getting a FREE Chick-Fil-A chicken sandwich at the end! It was warm and so yummy!
The only downside is that by the end of the race, my legs felt like they had knots in them. Walking was uncomfortable. We made the short drive home and I could barely stand when I got out of the car. Every step hurt and the stairs were awful. I had Andrew work on my legs and it was so painful. I’ve never had that kind of pain (even after a half marathon), so I’m unsure what happened. It was all very weird. If you have any insights, let me know! Side note: I did a lot of stretching before this race, so I’m really confused as to why my legs got that angry at me. Maybe it was because I was coming off a small cold?
Anyways, this race was well organized and I had a lot of fun running downtown. I highly recommend it!
The Librarian Who Runs 