Race Recap: ATL's Finest 5K

Feeling a little nervous on the way to the race

This past Saturday I ran my third 5K AND I made a PR! It wasn't the time I was shooting for, but I'll take it and be proud about it!  I finished at 31:18.  I feel like once I get past that speed goal of finishing under 30 minutes, I can shoot for my first 10K (if there's any left to register for this year).  Just like I used the c25K app back in February to help me get started running, I'm going to use either the Bridge to 10K or Couch to 10K program to increase my distance (start date is pending). 

I don't know why, but I've become kinda obsessed about finishing in under 30 minutes.  I haven't done any "official" type of speed work, I've been more focused on the endurance part. IDK. I'm still a beginner in my eyes, so I'm trying to really figure out where to start with it.  I've done it before, just not during a race. I completed 3.1 miles on a flat trail at 29:37-something seconds.  But anyway, back to Saturday's race...

Doing my leg swings

I got there later than I should have. I'm not that much of a wake-up-at-5:30-a.m. type of person. So I hit snooze until the very last minute. My clothes and everything else were already layed out, so I got dressed, grabbed half a banana and was out the door. I arrived at the race with maybe 5 minutes to spare. I had to take advantage of the little walk from the train station to the bib pick-up tables for part of my warm-up.

I looked down at my Nike+GPS app and saw I was already at 30 minutes, so I started sprinting towards the finish!

A proud girl representing an awesome running group

I knew what to expect with the route since I had practiced it with my running group the week before, but those hills maaan, I let 'em get to me.  During Saturday's practice run, I trotted up the first and kept it going, trotted up the second and walked for a few seconds. During the actual race, I stopped to walk in the middle of both.  I think I started off too fast in the beginning and it affected my overall pace. Either way, I'm still learning from my mistakes and will keep it moving. I'm still proud of myself :)