Race Report: Go, Geezers! The Big Game 5K

Today after my morning workout (the 21-Day Fix "Dirty 30"), I decided to go run a local 5K that benefits a local Boys & Girls Club.  I was scheduled to run 5 miles, so I drove to the race site, and signed up online as I stood in front of the packet pickup tent.

I ran a very easy 2 miles as a warmup but then there was still some time to go until the race start.  So I walked 1.5 miles, simply so I wouldn't stiffen up. At 54 years old, that happens.

I didn't have any real goal for this race but I figured if I ran around 31 to 33 minutes, I'd be thrilled.

I bumped into my former coworker Caitlin at the race start, which was really nice.  We chatted for a couple minutes before it was time to line up.

I started out using my "breathing technique" for gauging how hard I was working.  I breathe in 3 steps and breathe out 3 steps.  I call this my "comfortably hard" pace.  I was very surprised when my watch beeped for mile 1 and I saw it read 9:16.  What?

I kept up my 3 in, 3 out pattern until the turnaround.  At that point, I switched to 2-2 to see if I could keep up the pace.  Mile 2 read 9:04!  I was not sure the last time I ran 2 miles at this pace, but I wanted to see if I could keep it up until the end.

At this point, I started my "counting my steps" thing.  I never consciously chose to start doing this, but one day I realized that when I breathe 2-2, my brain starts counting every 4 steps, like "One (breathe in) (breathe out twice)."  I realized way back when that counting to 100 (so 400 steps) is roughly 1/4 mile.  Somehow it helps to think, "OK, I only need to count to 100 four times and then I'll be done."

Mile 3 read 8:57!  What??  I crossed the finish line with a chip time of 28:32 (a 9:11/mile pace).  According to my watch, I ran 3.15 miles in a 9:05 pace, but it's not unusual for the distances to not totally match up.  If it was really 9:11, I'm more than good with that!

I got some BelVita cookies and water and then cheered for Caitlin as she finished strong.

I stuck around for the awards because for a 50-54 year old woman at a small race, that was a pretty good finish time.  I was the 12th woman finisher overall but was FOURTH in my age group!  I was like... wait... so 1/3 of the top 12 female finishers were over the age of 50!  We were 7th, 8th, 10th, and 12th.  Go Geezers!