I ran in my fourth and final 5k of the season today. Though I'm looking forward to bigger races, I really enjoy the 5k for its quick distance and (generally) flat easy courses.
Therefore, prior to this week's madness, I planned on finally breaking my 5k PR. Despite great weather and a small field, that totally didn't happen. Why not, you may ask? Well, just in case you ever need to know how to NOT break a PR at a race, here are some tips:
1) Get minimal sleep throughout the week prior. Stay up late, catch up on season one of 30 Rock, stare into space to avoid not only sleep but grading a stack of essays as well. Aim to get a good night's worth of sub-7 hours of shut-eye.
2) Work all week while walking on eggshells. This week brought some news for myself as well as others in my place of employment that was not so hot. Tension does not usually equal motivation to run.
3) Complete bare minimum work outs. Do not run or do anything generally active for three days prior to race. In fact, be sure to hit happy hour for Oberon and appetizers the day before said race.
4) Acquire some lung-paralyzing mucus to throughly coat your lungs so that your throat hurts from hacking so much. Tasty.
5) Not care for once! At one point, I just wanted to lay down on the side of the course and sleep. Though I didn't, I sure let people pass me without much thought. I was tired, dehydrated, hacking, and annoyed this week. This run wasn't going to change that for once.
I finished somewhere in The Land of Twenty-Eight minutes (ugh) but I am just glad to be done. The cool thing about today was that my 10-year-old nephew finished his first 5k today, and I got to run along side him to the finish line! Very fun. My mom, sister, and another friend also competed so the whole event was one for family.
Next up is the Dex-Ann Arbor 10k, and I think I might just try to hurdle over some of these rocks from this week and really attempt to do well. One thing that's great about running is that even when you're at the lowest low point, a future race will surely bring you back up.
Today's Point Two: High fives from kids along a race course are awesome. Seeing those bright, excited faces and a sticky little kid hand awaiting the slap of yours can even rank above a GU packet, water station, or finish line cowbell :)