Race 3 – May 19, 2018 @ 9:30am
Sandwich – LM5K Run/Walk for Women & Children
Weather: Cloudy, cold, damp; trying to rain. Course had a few moderate hill through neighborhoods by the Sandwich beach.
Time: 28:09
Well we are just going to start off by saying…I PR’ed!!!! I haven’t run this fast since my first season of running (5 years ago)! I also came in 2nd in my age group!!! So exciting!
Now saying that; and not taking anything away from my accomplishment the honest truth is that the field of runner was super small and it was made smaller by the fact that it was in the 40’s and threatening to rain. I think there were a lot of people who woke up and said, “yeah, I’m out”. To add to the low turn out one of THE races of the spring was happening the next morning (yes I ran that one as well but that is in the next blog post).
Per my usual now I try to show up with as little time to spare as possible. I find it unmotivating to stand around waiting for the gun to go off. Since it was a pretty awful morning most people arrived later as well. We lined up and if there were announcements I never heard them. The next thing I know we are off running!
I did my best to get toward the front and kept my pace. I don’t run with a watch so I couldn’t see what my time was which was probably best since I was running faster than I normally do. As I ran I warmed up and had to shed my jacket and at that point I remember thinking I was running really slow.
Sandwich has a big electric plant with two smoke stacks. I knew once I saw them I was near the end and tried to pour on the speed. When I rounded the last corner and could see the timer I knew I had a chance of PR’ing! And I did!
This was a fun, small, family oriented, neighborhood race. I like these types of races. No one is jostling you and pushing you to the curb. I can get into a groove with little or no interruptions. I happily look for small races where I can win big! 🙂