Spring Fling 5K

Someone once asked me why I liked to run races. If you've ever led a race start to finish, it's the feeling of being chased and never being caught.

I set out yesterday with the goal of breaking 24:00. I've run the Spring Fling once before, 2 years ago, before I started doing any actual training programs. That year I finished in 26:06 which was good enough to win the women's master's race. I remembered that I liked the course so I thought it would be a good race to try and make my goal.

The start was strange. It's not a huge race. A little over 100 runners. I usually hang back in the second or third row of runners at the start in races this size. I think I'm fast but not that fast. Certainly not one to toe the starting line at the beginning of a race.

Anyhoos... no one wanted to toe the starting line! We were chipped. The starter gave a 10..9...8...countdown before the starting horn. Still, no one is near the starting mats! Finally, horn goes off and we start. The course loops around a parking lot before hitting a paved trail. I was in third place when we hit the trail. I looked at my watch though and I didn't think I was going unreasonably fast... about 7:10 pace at this point.

I was in sixth place when I went through the mile mark at 7:44. "Too slow" is all I could think. I felt pretty good so I tried to speed it up. I was still sixth at the turnaround. I had about 0.15 miles on the woman behind me and I decided then and there that no one else was going to pass me. I didn't dare look behind me until we got back to the parking lot. I took a quick glance behind me as we dog-legged back into the parking lot. No one in sight. If I was going to break 24:00, I was going to have to push myself. I hadn't looked at my watch since the two mile mark. My split there had been 7:55 but I felt like I was running much faster now. Nothing hurt; just a lot of freight train-like heavy breathing going on. I put my head down and ran like I stole something.

Crossed the finish in 23:06. I got beat by 5 guys. I'd won the women's race!

I got a $20 gift certificate for winning

 

Apparently my Garmin did not pick up correctly so I don't know what my real splits were. When I got done, my time matched the chip time but the distance did not. My Garmin read 2.98 miles. I asked the guy's winner and the guy that finished in front of me what their devices read. The winner had exactly 3.1 miles on his and the guy in front of me had 3.2 miles. When I ran this 2 years ago, my reading had been 3.12 miles so I don't think the course was short today. Anyway, totally elated with 23:06!!

 

I had one more adventure driving home. I was halfway between Plainfield and Mooresville on a county road when there was a loud "boom" and my car swerved off the road. I had to wrestle the steering wheel to get it back on the road and keep control. "What the hell was that?" I never saw anything in the road, my car just jumped and swerved. I drove another 10 miles or so and everything seemed fine. Then, as I slowed down to enter Mooresville, my car started making a funny noise. When I slowed down even more, my steering wheel started shaking and the car didn't handle worth a crap - which was my tell tale sign that I had blown a tire.

 

I ended up crippling it in to an Indy Lube and asked if they had any air. I was hoping to get enough air in my tire to get it home as, I figured, I had driven about 20 miles on it already. Well, the tire wouldn't hold any air. It was in a bay by then and the guy working under it took a look from under the car and said there was a "gash" in the tire; no way it was going to hold any air.

 

the "gash" in my tire

 

They ended up putting my spare on for me so I could drive home. They wouldn't even take any money for doing this for me! All they asked was that I come back and get my oil changed there. So, Indy Lube in Mooresville, Indiana - go get your oil changed there. They are wonderful people and I am definitely going back to give them my business!