It's been a minute, but I have still been running about 20 miles a week including walks and lots of zone 2 activity.
Cash and I ran the Bark & Bolt 5k back in June and managed a 28:27 and then when I was home visiting my parents I ran a solo 28:32 as Cash was on the D/L.
Today we towed the line in hopes of breaking that sub-9min/mile barrier. We had been going to run club on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I had even started attending F45 a couple times a week.
We had attempted to run a mile at race pace earlier in the week and failed miserably with a 9:12. I didn't know the course and had heard it was hilly. Our goal seemed more and more out of reach.
We arrived a little after 8am. It was about 42*. Cash and I did a very slow 2-mile warm-up (12:57/mile). He did manage to poop which I took as a good sign .... maybe today was going to be our day!
We lined up in the middle thinking I didn't want to run around all the walkers but I wouldn't be fast enough to be near the front. The gun went off and it felt like I was in slow motion to get through the gate. We ended up having to zig-zag around so many people. I was working way too hard and Cash was all fired up and bucking like a bronco and pulling excited and trying to catch people. In retrospect I should have not stayed on the greenway and just run up the street to the first turn. Unfortunately, the first turn led down the next level of hell to some hills that were horrendous. One was so steep, I decided to power walk as I was still moving as fast as the runners around me and it allowed me to recover a little so when it was over I was able to pull ahead of those runners and have the whole lane to myself. I caught 2-3 more runners before the first mile and clipped off a 9:20. Uggghh, I was so disappointed, we weren't gonna make our goal today.
Cash was still pulling me along encouraging me not to give up and I could see a little girl and a guy just ahead. I tried to focus on them and closing the gap. The second mile had little rollers that did slow me down but nothing like the big ones in the first mile. Cash and I came up on the water stop and I thought these are usually about half way through and it took me a long time to get to this one. Another nail in the coffin to keep us from our goal, but less than a 1/4 after that my Garmin beeped for mile 2. I looked down 8:31 - HOLY SHIT! Not only had I made up that 20 seconds, but I 'd put time in the bank.
Renewed with hope I focused on just staying the course. I didn't have to go faster, but I couldn't blow up either. I had run the last 0.5 mile backwards and I knew it was back on the greenway with a slight incline for about 200 meters and then flat or downhill. We kept it steady until we hit the greenway and then I started to really hurt, but knowing I was so close and our goal was possible we weren't going down without a fight. I felt like I was slowing down so I started picking an object about 20 seconds ahead and surging to it then slowing back down to my 5k pace until I could see the finish. I tried to open my stride. I didn't dare look back because I was already going as hard as I could. A young boy came flying by me like he had just started the race and uuuffff that hurt a little.
We crossed the finish and I stopped my Garmin: 3.02 miles in 26:24. I had run a 8:25 for my last mile with an average pace of 8:45 mile. I had run the tangents pretty well and courses are usually 3.1-3.2, but this one did seem a bit shy of that distance. Even if it had taken us another minute to run the last 0.08 I'd still have made a sub-9 pace. WE DID IT and to boot our friends Treva and Kevin ran too and we all won our age group. On to the next goal.
