All Star 5K

Great race (with some big results... 4 of the top 10 women) this AM! Jennifer lead the way, running strong and finishing up as the 2nd female overall. Laura Berry also ran crazy fast, earning her 3rd female overall. Erica and I sewed up 1st's in our respective age groups... and Dave just missed 3rd in his. We also saw a bunch of our friends from the various training programs, and they all ran super! Brad was also out there to help and cheer, and both of his parents earned 3rd places in their age groups! See, wasn't that nice? Saved y'all scrolling down to the end of the post to find out the results... I learned this "efficient" strategy from the announcer this AM. However, if y'all want to hear how the race really went...

It was nice and freezing cold when we got there. I think we all huddled inside the RBC Center for as long as we possibly could until we "had" to warmup. However, by the time the race started, it was actually quite pleasant (you know it's been a bad winter when 35 feels warm). After they crammed all 950 or so of us into the starting chute, the "ready, set, go" command was issued, and off we ran.

According to the announcer, it was the "best start he's seen in Raleigh"... I sure hope he doesn't see many race starts (although, no one actually fell, but a few little kids came awfully close). The first mile wound through the parking lots, was mostly downhillish (which only accelerated the insane pace that the leaders were holding)... then we turned onto Trinity Rd. The hill didn't seem bad at first, but it kept going and going and going. Unfortunately, I am not the energizer bunny, and Blue Ridge was still no where to be seen (and courtesy of the fact that I now have contacts, that's a lot further than before). A guy with a Garmin passed me, and I amused myself thinking of what that data would look like when he uploaded it after the race.

Blue Ridge finally came, and so did the 2-mile mark (nothing like a 5280ft steady incline to distract you). The course continued to Westchase, which featured a much needed downhill. We turned back to the stadium, took a couple of turns, and suddenly the finish line was within sight! Everyone finished strong, and we were all super excited with our times. We ran a nice cooldown... checked the results... and, well, turns out the clock at the finish line was about 20sec or so fast. Jeez, and we thought the "2sec offset" was bad! But, we were all still happy because our times were still crazy fast (and it meant that the course probably was a 5K and not some random 3ish mile distance!). GOOD RACE and CONGRATS everyone! #20