Race recap: Heart & Sole 5K

I love having my run out of the way right away in the morning; I have all day to dork around whip up some delicious things in the kitchen!

I laced up my new shoes…

 

…and headed east to Grand Rapids and met up with Andi and Mindy for the Advantage Health Heart & Sole 5K, a run that boasts an indoor start and finish at the Michigan Athletic Club and loops through a rather hilly residential neighborhood behind the club.

We were not blessed with mild weather; in fact, we were graced with temperatures in the mid-20s and winds that gusted and made it feel like the mid-10s. We were, however, blessed with a very small crowd of less than 250 runners.

We arrived about 7:45 a.m., pinned on our bibs and affixed our shoe tags and stretched a bit. We waited around and caught up, then headed to the starting line and found a place in the middle of the pack.

We set off—out the back door of the athletic club, over a muddy berm and around a tree stump and out into the road. Mindy pulled ahead right away, but Andi and I stuck together for a bit until she dropped behind a little and I pressed on.

The course wound through a quiet neighborhood. It was relatively hilly and included only a few really flat areas. A few spectators lined the route—and one older guy handed out small bottles of water toward the last half mile and cheered for people as they passed; he told me “good job” as I plugged up a hill and gave me the push I needed to finish strong.

I felt pretty good through the whole race. I never stopped to walk or catch my breath, only slowed down to ease any discomfort. I was hit with a burst of nausea—I felt like I was going to hurl—with less than a quarter mile to go, but I breathed deep, slowed down and allowed it to pass.

I crossed at around 35 minutes. I was pleased with how well I ran and especially proud that I never once stopped to walk.

(Our apologies for the blurriness. We had someone else take the picture…)

Andi, Mindy and I reassembled to stretch and then headed to Wolfgang’s for breakfast to celebrate a good race.

(The Lenny V scramble of eggs, tomatoes, green onions and bacon, accompanied by unpictured hash browns, pictured English muffin toast and unpictured hazelnut coffee.)

All in all, I once again was pleased with the race and was glad the three of us signed up to run another race together. (We’re already looking ahead to another 5K next month!) However, I once again was disappointed with the disorganization of the race: I still would have liked a course map or detailed course description and mile markers along the course at the very least, but I guess I can’t have everything…

So now, without further ado, here are my statistics:

Distance: 3.1 miles
Duration: 34:50 chip time (35:11 clock time, 34:45 Nike+ time)
Average pace: 11:10 per mile
Mile 1: 10:34
Mile 2: 11:26
Mile 3: 11:24 (Does this count as a negative split, even if it’s only 2 seconds faster?)

I drove home and launched into baking and no-baking mode (I made blueberry scones, no-bake almond butter chews and no-bake “brownie” balls, the latter two for long-run fuel.) as well as cleaning mode. I finally am sitting down to download pictures and blog and finally am thinking about eating something after that huge breakfast!