APSU Homecoming 5K

Today was the APSU Homecoming 5K. As expected, it was a very hilly course. Even though I have run the course before, I have never run the entire thing at one time. We would run part here, run part there so I knew what to expect. Even knowing what to expect doesn't really prepare you for the stinking hills. They are not even big hills, they are just long and constant. If we were not running up a hill, we were running down a hill.

I met up with my running buddies and got checked in. We got a nice long sleeved gray t-shirt, not 100% cotton! Woo hoo! Even though Chuck, our coach, was not there, he was there in spirit so we were good little runners and went out for our mile warm up before the race

This was not a huge race, I think maybe 100 people so we milled around the start line and a guy yelled "Go!" and off we went. In looking around the crowd, my immediate goals were to beat:

-the 8 year old girl (did it!)
-the two pregnant ladies (did it! But I also know they were taking it very easy since they routinely trounce me in training runs)
-the 79 year old lady (did it! She was awesome, I want to be out on courses when I am 79)
-the walkers (did it!)

It was a nice day for a run although a bit chilly at 34F out. People were complaining about running in the shade, I liked the shade since it kept me cooler.

Chuck wanted me, based on last week's 10K time, to run 32:10. I know I thought he was nuts because there was no way that I was going to be able to run that course with hills in that time. The last time I ran a 5K in the downtown area, my time was just over 37 minutes. Of course, this was back in April when I first started running.

As I came to the start line, almost to the finish line, Lucas came out on the course to run me in. He told me that Brittany had come in at 25:xx (Chuck wanted her at 27:xx) and that Jim was still out on the course. Now, Jim normally beats me but he was running with his daughter, Emily (the 8 year old that I beat). I told Lucas that as soon as I turned the corner and came to the 3 mile mark, I would stride out. It really sucks that the final .10 is all uphill. I strode out and managed to squeak in at 32:09 (on the clock, my Garmin said 32:06)!

Reports are that Chuck called to check on Lucas (16:19) after the race and was pretty pleased with our times. Not happy enough to cancel our 8 mile run tomorrow though….

Brittany and I did our cool down run and found three walkers on the course. We let the race people know to stop tearing down the timer since they still had folks out there who probably wanted their time.

I was kinda hopeful I would place when the groups below me all had people placing with times after mine. In my age group, the top three were all under 23 minutes!! No medal for me there or as an alumni….darn. I really wanted the $50 gift certificate to the running store but I lost out on the door prizes as well.

It was a fun race, even though it was hilly. I am glad my race in 2 weeks is pretty well on a flat course.