A great day for a 5K: Race recap of Teterboro 5K

I had the absolute best 5K this past Saturday morning.

First of all, the race was taking place at Teterboro airport. Teterboro is a private little airport where mostly private jets land. The best thing about Teterboro is it's about 2 miles from my house so it was an easy race to get to! ;-)

This was the race that I signed up for to run alongside my Moms In Motion running group. I have to admit I was a little wary of this one. I'm pretty much a big baby when it comes to running in the heat and the idea of running the end of July on an unshaded runway, had me sweating all summer at the thought of it.

Moms In Motion 

But the weather Gods were on our side. The weather was about as comfortable as you can get for this time of year and that was a huge relief!

I arrived and quickly found some of my sisters in pink. We were all excited! Most of the MIMs were lining up for their very first 5K - there's something so special about the first one and I was thrilled for them. I knew they were going to feel changed/hooked/proud/inspired when they crossed the finish line and I was so happy to be there.

I also had my own goals in mind. Since the summer had been so warm I wasn't planning on PR'ing this race. I figured I'd run at a comfortable pace and see what happens. With the weather cooperating, I decided that coasting along wouldn't cut it. I was going to go for a PR.

Previously, my last 'official' 5K I ran a 9'17 mi (28:48) and I was really proud of that. That goal was to come in under 30 mins.

Then, a few weeks ago, during a training 5K with MIMs coach Dana I ran a 9'07 (in 28:16 or so). That was fast for me and I was gasping.

So my goal for this race was to do a 9 min mile. That was it and I was going for it.

Luckily, I had a fellow MIM at my side, Kerry. She's the speedster of the group and the one I'm always chasing to keep up with. She (unfortunately) had a bum ankle but it evened the playing field a bit and we decided to pace each other. She still ran like hell and I ran to keep up. She said that I pushed her too because there were times she wanted to keep up with me! We made a good team.

I didn't wear my Garmin. I've learned that when it comes to short races, being able to keep looking at my time/speed just messes with my mind. I'd rather just run as hard as I can for 3 miles and let the chips fall where they may.

Poor Kerry learned what a crazy freak I am. I have this embarrassing thing that happens -- it's like running tourettes. I can't control the dramatic huffing, puffing, groaning and moaning and panting that happens when I'm running at 100% during a 5K. (Poor Dana learned about this unfortunate "condition" during our training run too…) Kerry was cracking up half the time at my dramatics - so that was good. It's the drama queen in me. I can't just run, everyone has to know I'm suffering. Whatever gets ya thru I guess.

So how'd I do? WELL 99% of you probably know since I've been talking about it all over Facebook and dailymile and to whoever will listen but I hit my goal and beyond. A HUGE PR for me:

26:46 / 8:37 / 14 out of 54 in age group 

Yippppppeeee - WHAT! 8:37!? I mean that's a whole 30 seconds faster than my last training run 5K full effort! Holy. Crap. I remember when I once dreamed of being able to run an avg. 10 min mile for a 5K.

crossing the finish line to victory -
yep, I'm as pink as my shirt!

Every 5k I run, i stop to marvel at how far I've come. I know I've said it before but I can't get over that my first 5K in 2010 took me close to 40 minutes and an avg. of more than a 13 min. mile to complete. It's really true that you can improve if you keep going.

And speaking of great races. Our Coach Dana, placed 2nd in her age group and ran her 5K in 21:29!! Holy fastness. She's amazing. We were all so proud and excited for her.

Yay Coach Dana!! 

I'm also super proud of my friend Kathy who also crossed the finish line this past Saturday - I know there were many of Saturday morning where she was cursing me for "dragging her" to join but she did great and even told me she's signing up again for fall :-) See you there Kathy!!

XO

Jen