How I Ran My Fastest 5K In Five Years

The highlight of the Fourth of July for me was running in a small local 5K race. It wasn't something I was super intentional on. In fact, I'd only heard about the race last Thursday, and then officially signed up Monday night at 6pm, and then woke up really early yesterday morning to go and run. I hadn't really been training for it, although I am currently training for a half marathon that I'm thinking about doing in the fall. I ran five miles for my training run last week, so I knew I could finish the 5K no problem. 

After I registered, I got an email about the race when I was in the car on the way home (Derek was driving), and I learned that there were less than 250 people doing the race, and that the top three finishers in each age group were the only ones who were going to be getting medals. This got the wheels turning in my head, and I started to think that I might actually be able to pull it off and be one of the people to get those medals. 

I got plenty of rest the night before. Em went to sleep around 8pm, which means that I was in bed and asleep before 10pm. I ate a large bowl of Reese's Puffs right before passing out, and was down for the night. When I woke up in the morning I didn't eat anything because I know I'm really prone to throwing up at races because of the nerves. 

I was fine emotionally until I pulled into the parking lot, and I immediately started to get nervous. I tried jogging it off for a bit but then I started crying while running (I do this ALL THE TIME I don't know how to make it stop!), and figured to just walk and stretch and try to calm down. Luckily a few minutes later, a girl recognized me from the race that I won a couple years ago, and we talked for the 20 minutes leading up to the race, which was such a great distraction from my nerves.

When we got to the starting line I was having the conflict over whether or not to use my Nike Plus running app during the race or not so that I would know my pace and how far along I was, and at the last minute decided not to use it. I turned my music on, they said go, and I was off! Like most races, people were passing me left and right and I had to focus hard to find my stride. As everyone was whipping past, an older guy (late 30s I would assume), commented to me that they were all going to die as soon as they got to that first hill. We talked back and forth for a minute, and then fell in stride with one another. We were stride for stride the entire first mile and a half. I had a feeling that we were going a lot faster than I thought (I assumed if I got anywhere slightly under 30 minutes that it was going to be a huge stretch and really hard), so I let him go ahead while I stayed back to reserve energy for a bit. 

A little while later, he'd found someone else to pace with and I saw him and went ahead. Then there was this massive hill and it literally about killed me. When I got to the top of the hill, the same guy saw me and saw that I was struggling and told me that it wasn't much farther until the finish. I finally saw the church where the race was ending and saw a girl from another ward that I knew, and two sister missionaries ahead of me. I knew they were all in my age group, and that if I wanted any chance in placing in my age group I had to get ahead of them. I sprinted past the guy I'd been pacing with, and right passed those three girls, saw Derek and the kids cheering me on and the race was over. I asked the lady working the finish line what the time was and she said 27:48, I exasperatedly told her to shut up, and then threw myself in the grass while I caught my breath.

27:48 is so much faster than I ever imagined myself running that race. The fastest 5K I ever did was right after high school. I ran a 25:30 at a 8:13 pace, and that was after coming off of 4 years of high school track and being in the best shape of my life. So running a 8:57 pace really blew my mind, and showed me that I really am capable of a lot. It's a good reminder that maybe there is a Boston Marathon in me at some point. 

There are a few things though that really attribute to making this race what it was. First of all, if I had known how fast I was going during the race with my Nike Plus app, I would have slowed way down. I told Derek that if I had known I was running 8 minute miles, I would have immediately told myself that I need to save energy and would have backed off immensely. 

Secondly, I paced myself with the right person. I didn't even mean to run the race with that total stranger, but it was a situation where I didn't want to go slower and let him have it, but my legs couldn't move any faster either. So we just kind of got stuck with each other. If I'd paced myself with someone else though, there's no knowing how much slower I could have been. I later thanked him after the race for letting me pace off him, and he'd told me he was pacing himself off me! I'm glad we were both a positive experience for each other. 

Third, I really think crossfit has helped a ton. I got this idea in the spring that I wanted to run a half marathon, but the idea of running five times a week for twenty weeks straight seemed tiresome, and I know I'm prone to foot and hip injuries if I run that much. I had the idea that if I did crossift five times a week, and ran one long run on the weekends that it could really help me get ready for a race without putting all that repeated running impact on my body. I talked to my trainer at the gym I go to, and he told me that's basically what the crossfit endurance program is, and told me my idea was totally feesable. I follow @nycrunningmama on Instagram, and she mentioned last year that you have to lift weights and get stronger if you want to run faster, and I totally agree. 

Finally, because the field was so small, it was easy to see where I fell within my age group. In a much larger race, there is no way I would have placed at all, but in a small setting where you can see most of your opponents, it's easy to know what you have to do and when. There were three people ahead of me that I knew were in my age group and had I not passed them at least, there would have been no shot. But kicking passed all three of them right at the end was just enough to put me in that third place spot and get my medal. 

I'm really proud of this accomplishment. I know that my time really isn't spectacular to a lot of other people. And it's not even spectacular compared to my own best, but I know that it's the best I could have done yesterday, and five minutes faster than the last three mile run I'd done several weeks ago, so because of that, I'm really proud, and can't wait to see what other racing adventures lay ahead for me this year.