McGuires 5k Prediction Run

Yes, that's the shirt I wore for the race event. A 9:00 start meant I could sleep in and still have time to drive 60 miles to the race. Arrived way too early as usual. Did a warm up run, but was completely cooled down by the time the cannon went off.

Plan was to stick with Steve, as he led me perfectly in the 15k a few weeks back. After 200 meters we were running into a really strong wind. I was just trying to duck behind someone and had lost Steve already. So much for a plan. As it turned out, I was never more than 10 meters from him.

First few miles felt like I was going too fast, which is what I expected for a 5k. Hard to tell if I was since we were not allowed watches and there were no mile markers.

The last section of the race is when my lack of leg speed and strength showed. Steve, Anna, and another other girl started pulling away. I knew it was happening, and there was nothing I could do about it. I tried working harder, and it felt like my heart rate went up, but my speed didn't increase. Next year my 5k's will be fast. Next year.

Post race party was great. Music, costumes, friends, perfect weather, Irish Wakes, beer, stew, everything. If I only do one event party next year, this is the one.

Almost forgot about the results. Prediction 18:59. I thought I could run 18:30, but I wanted to surprise myself by going faster than my prediction time. Ran an 18:55, which was good enough for 9th of about 300 in my age group. No hardware, but close.