Race #214
5k #64
2023 Race #11
2023 5k #5
Turtle Trot 5k #4

I learned my lesson this year. Even though the course is flat, the weather makes it anything but fast. 

Instead of aiming for a fast pace, I planned to run a little faster and try to run the course the best I could. 

The race starts with the sun at our back and a little bit of wind cooling us off. You feel the best during this quarter. In the rest, you try to survive. 

As soon as I started running I was glad I had no plans of really racing the race. My legs did not feel fresh. 

At .75/1250m, we turned around into the sun. Unlike last year, it didn’t feel quite as much of an oven but it didn’t feel great. 

My first mile split 8:05 surprised me

I knew my pace started to slow but I wanted to do well in the conditions. 

As we approached the start/finish/halfway point, I told Mom that I planned to take water and did so, walking a little bit in a 5k for the first time in a while. 

Mile 2’s split 8:54 didn’t surprise me. 

The last mile was all about surviving and going it as well as possible. I also counted how many women were ahead of us. Ten. That meant that I didn’t try to pass Mom at the end so I could get the 12 spot. 

Mile 3 – 8:50

Finally, we finished!

Overall – 26:51

It was a slower time than usual for me but in those conditions, that was a great time. 

Afterwards, I added on another 1.9 miles to get to a total of 5. I felt surprisingly good so that confirmed how well I ran the race.