Race Report - 2010 Paint The Streets 5K

What a wonderful cause for a 5K race and what better reason to toe the starting line at 7AM in the morning. This race serves as a fundraiser for United Cerebral Palsy and was created along with a Memorial Mile in memory and honor of Carlene Hall, a quadriplegic who passed away just last year. And what an amazing number of entrants for an inaugural 5K race event. Almost 400 people registered to participate in this event. In addition, the event organizers did an excellent job with refreshments as well as the race swag provided. Every entrant received or will receive a really nice technical running shirt. Since they did not expect that many runners, the event organizers promised to order additional shirts so that every participant will be receiving a shirt. That is a very nice gesture in my book, especially considering that these are tech shirts. On top of that, the top three finishers in each age and gender group received medals that actually put some marathon finishers medals to shame.
I was ready to try for a PR again, even though I failed last weekend blaming the high humidity for my failuere;-) However, with a flatter course and slightly less humidity at 7AM in the morning, I figured I'd give it another shot. Well, I fell short...again. Even though I had adjusted my race approach by not pushing all out at the start of the race, but rather hitting my target pace within the first quarter mile, I just could not hold on to that pace during the second mile. The third mile was faster again and overall, I never got close to my maximum heart rate of 194 from last weekend. My average heart rate was about 5 beats slower as well, so I figure I could have done better and gotten closer to my PR. Instead, I was 2 seconds slower than last weekend. I am going to scour the the local track website for the most recent 5K race results and I will find myself someone that consistently runs just under 20 minute times. I will line up behind that person at the next 5K and hoild on for dear life. I am going to get my PR this year. It might not be this summer, but come fall, I will be ready. I want that 19:59 as my finishing time.
While I missed my PR, I did finish 14th overall out ot almost 400 runners and placed 3rd in my age group. So yes, I did receive one of those really big medals;-) I will be back for this one next year, because the course truly is nice and flat and, who knows, maybe it will be cooler and even less humid next year.