New 5k PR!!!

Crossing the finish line!

This morning was the first 5k of the race season, the Track Shack Celebration of Running 5k.  I have been really pumped about this race for the past few weeks since I have been amping up my workouts over the past month and a half since I joined the Y/Run Club and I was anxious to see how much I had improved.

I was up early at 6 am, excited and ready to go.  It was incredibly humid this morning but not too hot thankfully.  There were over 2,000 runners lined up this morning which is a good turn out.  I had run this race last year and the course had not really changed, so I knew what to expect.

My goal has been to do it in 25 minutes or less, so I did feel a bit of pressure, but Jon kept assuring my that I could do it.  Fortunately enough, the night before the race included lots of great track and field events from Beijing so I was feeling extra inspired.

My first mile started off strong, I was able to hit the first marker in 08:05, which was a bit faster than I had planned on.  I was able to maintain the same pace for mile 2, so I knew I was capeable of stepping it up for the final mile and perhaps even beat my goal.

As I rounded the final stretch of the course I tapped into my adrenaline stores so I could push it as hard as i could the last 300 meters or so.  I hit mile marker 3 at 24:00 so I was pumped, i had sub-25:00 in the bag!

I crossed the finish line in 24:52!!!  My last 5k was the IOA Corporate 5k back in April where I ran a 27:30, which was my best time at that point.

I couldn’t be more excited, since I started running almost 2 years ago I have shaved off almost 8 minutes from my 5k time.  I can attribute that to a few things

- Consistent running, no matter what distance

- Trained for/Ran a marathon

- Added strength training and core work

- Started yoga

- Added speed workouts at the track

- Osmosis: Have been running with the Y club, the fastest runners in Central Florida

- Slimmed down, lost almost 10 pounds

This has definitely been a work in progress, but it goes to show that if you stick with something and make it a priority, you can see results.  Can’t wait for the next race, let’s see if I can pull of 24:30!!