In It for the Long Run : When Marathon Training and Running 5k's Intersect

Many marathoners shudder at the thought of running a 5k. They are too short, not worth the money in mileage, and are run at an all out effort often forgotten by the legs of the marathon runner.

This is not me. I still love them. I love the recklessness of just running as fast as I can for 3 cleansing miles. I love what they have done for the last 3 miles of my half marathon. I love how anyone can do one (and love seeing first timers there participating). I love how strong they make my legs feel. I love not having to worry about dehydration, gu, gatorade and lactate. Most of all, I love that I can roll out of bed worry free and race a 5k without much thought of preparation effort that morning.

Today this was not the case...

We had a 20 miler on our schedule today, and decided to run the Breakaway 5k first, and then finish our 20 miler. We were on the road driving to the race at 5:30am (gag - that's earlier than I wake up for work). We ran 3.1 miles slow prior to the race, and my heart rate was way high (not worried about it for the 5k, worried about it for the long run after), my belly was icky, and the achy pain in my LEFT (what the heck?) hip was just plain annoying.

The 5k itself was interesting. It can be summed up in a few notes...

1. I wish people would line up correctly at the beginning of a race. There was almost a pileup. I apologize, I was cranky, and I may not have been nice about it...sorry.
2. Flat courses are no longer "fast" courses for me. I need hills. This was the flattest course I've ran all year...and by far the one that required the most effort.
3. Even after years of working on it, I still need to work on my last tenth of a mile kick. I got out-kicked by one speedy chica in the last seconds crossing the line.
4. I was bummed I didn't break 21 again...but I know I need to be happy with 21:12, especially considering how icky I felt at the start. (Why can't we runners ever be satisfied...we are greedy...nothing is ever good enough and we also want just a little more!).

And, the most important of all...

5. TRACKIES FLIPPING ROCK! We took home four, that's right, FOUR first place age group finishes today, one third place finish AND a huge PR for Marc!

Me finishing up!

Sole Sisters waiting for awards

Awards for this race were super late, so we were able to squeeze in another 3.8 miles before they started, leaving 10 miles for after. Overall, this method of getting in 20 miles is not one I would recommend. The stop and go made for super stiff legs and by the time we had finished we had been in the sun way too long and had probably walked an extra 1-2 miles at the race. But as for an adventure with the trackies, well, as always, that was a great time!