Happy 4th of July! I hope everyone has a great day!
Let me preface this by saying that this was a very small, low-key race (my kind of race). Also, it appears that the 5K course was actually 3.3 miles long, but I’ll address that in a bit.
Today I ran the In God We Trust 5K, put on by the Bastian Union Church, in Bastian, VA. I arrived a little after 8 for the 9 AM start and had a little bit of confusion. There was a flea market going on at the Bastian Union Church pavilion. I thought this was where registration and packet pick-up would be so I parked and wandered over. After asking around a bit I found out that packet pick-up was on the other side of the church on the corner. I walked over there and found nothing. It turns out it was on the corner across from the church, but that from my angle they were hidden by a small hill. Once I did find them it was no problem picking up my bib and my t-shirt.
I ended up with bib #2. I thought to myself (and shared on Facebook and
Instagram): Oh no, I hope they don’t expect me to win the race. Spoiler alert: I came close. Remember, small race π
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| Instagram {turkeyrunner} |
Shortly before the race, I bumped into Anita, Glenda, Wendy and a whole group of Sole Sisters. I took a pre-race picture with them “prom style” (as in we all turned to the side) and hung out prior to the start. At 8:45 we made the short walk over to the start line, I did some stretching, and we were briefed on the race course. The 5K would be a simple out and back. The race also had a 10K that had a slightly different course, but everyone started together and the start and finish were in the same place. The race did end up being flat! I was skeptical.
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| Photo courtesy of Glenda Scott |
The weather for the race turned out pretty ideal, especially for July. It was overcast, in the low 70’s, and only slightly humid. It poured all day yesterday and the weather forecast called for that to continue today. I am glad it held off for the race!
At 9 AM we toed the line (I was a lot closer to the start line than I am comfortable with), someone blew a whistle, and we were off! I ran the first half of this race entirely too fast. I don’t know what got in to me, but I can tell you I paid for it on my way back.
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| Photo courtesy of Glenda Scott |
The race course didn’t have mile markers, and if I had known that I would have run with my Garmin instead of my Timex stop watch. I got to the turn around in 13:36. Interestingly enough I had only seen two men and one girl on their way back. The girl ahead of me was only about 30 seconds ahead at the turn around. The turn around was not clearly marked. There was a water stop there (we were told there was a water stop before the turn around) and if there was a sign I didn’t see it. But I thought this was where the girl in front of me had turned, so I asked the man working the water stop if this was the turnaround and he said yes.
So I looped around and headed for home. I started to feel the fatigue creep into my legs and tried to focus on my breathing and on pink shirt in front of me. I had to dodge a few cars here and there, as the road was still open to traffic. Most were courteous, though.
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| Photo courtesy of Glenda Scott |
During the last half mile or so, pink shirt started to pull away from me. I tried to push but there was nothing there. I think she crossed the line about a minute ahead of me. I ran the second half in 14:04, huge positive split, and crossed the line in 27:40. When I crossed a woman handed me a card with the #4 on it and told me to go over to the table where they were collecting bib tags for placing. Turns out I placed 4th overall and 2nd overall for women! How cool. I know I’m not fast, but it was pretty neat to be so close to the front of the finishers.
I hung out in the finish area and had some water. They also had bagels, bananas, and granola bars for the runners. Once the 10K finished up, they got going on the awards ceremony. I have only ever placed in my age group a few times in races, but it always embarrasses me to accept my award in front of everyone. Luckily today I happened to be unknowingly standing next to the lady who was distributing medals, so I didn’t have to go in front of the whole group.
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| Sole Sisters cleaned up today- everyone placed either overall or in their age group! |
Overall I’m pretty happy with this race. I don’t feel like I ran as well as I could have, but at the same time I feel like I ran with the same effort as I did two weeks ago at my last 5K.
I don’t normally do this, but I am going to today. Since the race was 3.3 miles long, that really means that my 27:40 was an 8:23 pace. So if I ran an 8:23 pace today that means I hit 3.1 miles in 25:59, about 50 seconds faster than my 5K PR. I am still considering 26:49 as my PR for now, but it does at least make me feel a bit better. Do you ever do that when a race is significantly longer? (by the way I consider 0.2 miles to be “significant” in a 5K because it does have a big effect on your time)
I hope everyone has a great Independence Day! Grill some burgers and enjoy some fireworks!
How do you feel about races when they don’t have mile markers?
If you use a GPS watch or phone app, do you always use it during a race?
What are you doing to celebrate the 4th of July today?
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Turkey Runner 
Congratulations to my girl. Maybe all that speed training is starting to help.Great fajitas with Lissa and clan. Getting ready to head back down to set off some pyrotechnics.LUD!!!!
Thanks, Dad! Glad you had fun at Lissa’s. Of course there were fajitas π
Congratulations on a hard-fought race and an AMAZING 4th place finish! That’s so awesome! You have to be glowing (since I’m so excited for you ~ you must be THAT much MORE excited!).
Thanks, Stephanie! It was really exciting to place overall. That does not usually happen for this middle-of-the-packer π
Congratulations on your women’s second place finish! Congrats to all of the Sole Sisters, too! I’m glad Glenda got such good photos for you to post! So I finished yesterday’s race at 25:58 and you calculated that you finished the first 3.1 miles in 25.59, on Sunday Lindsey at One Mother of a Day finished her 5K in 25:58, and Stephanie at Now I Run just finished a 5K in 26… Sounds like we would make a very compatible group of running buddies!
Thanks! I think the photos were taken by Glenda’s husband, because Glenda ran the race. I credited her, though, since she posted them on Facebook π Funny that you mention that about us making a great running group because I said the same thing to Stephanie after her last 5K! I told her I wished we lived closer together so we could go for a run.
First off, congrats on placing 4th overall! How cool! And secondly, .2 long is a BIG deal. I would figure out my adjusted time, too. Sounds like a new 5k PR is headed your way. GREAT WORK!
Thanks! And thanks for agreeing with me that the .2 was a big deal π I will have to find a race that is legitimately 3.1 so that I can see what I can do.
Wow! Congrats! I really need to start doing a lot more small and local races π
Thanks! Find yourself a small one and you can contend for overall winner! π
Congrats on a solid race and good finish.When I run a course that seems incredibly off from the stated distance (happens a lot out here), I don’t call the adjusted finish time an official PR, but in my head and training, I use it for determining paces, etc.
I’m right there with you. No official PR, but I definitely saw some small improvements from the time I’ve been putting in on the track.
Ha, don’t you HATE it when the courses are long and it ruins all of your timing/pacing stats! It bothers me. CONGRATS on placing!!!! That’s awesome!! I’ve never placed…maybe someday!
Thanks! Find yourself a small race and you’ll place π that’s the secret… but shh don’t tell.