5km in under 30 mins!

Today's run: 5km race, just under 30 minutes! (I think - official time not posted yet)

This morning I got up at the crack of dawn (well actually before the crack of dawn - it was still dark) to do a 5km race. After my longest long run ever though, I thought this might have been a tad optimistic. I got there this morning with plenty of time to spare, and sat in my warm car waiting thinking about how nice my bed would be... but once I got over to the start line I was pleased I had turned up.

My first km was pretty slow, about 6 mins 33 secs. People always say don't go out to fast in a race, but my problem is the opposite, I don't seem to be able to go out fast at all! Second km was a bit better, this one I did in 6 mins 14 secs. Third km was approx 5 mins 50 secs. During the fourth km I felt like I had run out of steam a bit, and it really felt like I had slowed down quite a lot, but when I looked at my watch, I had done it in about 5 mins 45 secs I think. During that last km, my head kept saying to slow down, that I was going to burst a boiler soon and that it was just too hard, but I told it to shut up, and that I was nearly home, and I reminded myself of how disappointed I would be if I missed out by a tad and felt like I hadn't given it my all. The last 100m or so was pretty much an all out sprint - there was a guy ahead who I was trying to catch for quite a while - I think it was pretty much a dead heat at the finish line.

My final time isn't posted yet, but I'm pretty sure it was just under 30 minutes. That's only about 30 secs off my PB from 2006 when I was running before, so I'm pretty happy with that. I think that these shorter races are good for reminding my legs about how to go faster - I love the long, slow distance runs but I need a little speed every now and then too.

Best thing is that whilst I didn't really want to get up at 5:50am on a Sunday, by 9am I was home and having breakfast. I'll have to see if I can squeeze in a nana nap though!