Penguin Run 5k

Today was the Penguin Run 5k at Batesville, AR. Now, I have a love/hate relationship with the races at Batesville. On one hand, they are some of the nicest people with well set-up races, albeit very challenging courses. On the other, my 2 worst races have been at Batesville. Now, we're not talking time-wise, just me making rookie mistakes (not taking a final bathroom break at the Healthsouth 4m) or trying to run a race when I feel horrible (Sara Low 5k). Today I had an excellent race and a new pr!!!!!!!!

James describing how cold it washttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INIHxgOy14s

It was on the chilly side, around 33-35 F and overcast. Everybody was bundled up and hunched over (don't laugh too hard, that's cold for us). Oh, did I mention that the 5k started and ended beside the White River, that made it feel even colder and the sound of the rushing water exacerbated the shivering. I didn't start any further up in the crowd than normal but I did start at a faster than usual pace.

We started out from Kennedy Park went uphill and crossed the river on the shoulder of Hwy 167, turned east (right) on Myers, the small hills started here. Turned right on 20th, followed it around and turned right on Chaney which curved around into River Rd. Followed River back to Myers and back across the White River on the shoulder of the bridge again back into Kennedy Park.

First mile--8:12, so right on pace and feeling good.

Mile 2--16:14, a little faster than mile one, still good but shoulders are starting to tighten up

Mile 2 thru 2.8--Getting a little winded and nauseous. Seriously contemplating throwing up over the bridge railing into the White River. This is a new one for me, normally I'm not going that fast!! I pass Carol that I'd met at last weeks 15k and again she is just as bubbly as ever. I bet her students love having her for a teacher.

Mile 2.8 (approx.) thru 3.1--I had enough left in me to kick past the guy I'd been following. I was so surprised to get by him that I had an extra surge of adrenaline and was able to put more distance between us than I expected and almost missed where the finish line chute was :-)

Final time was 23:56.281. My previous pr was from last December on a super flat course with a time of 25:08. Overall, I finished 19th out of 67 runners and fourth overall female. Woo-hoo!!! An improvement of 72 seconds, how am I going to top this? That was my goal for this summer.

Saw Daylean from Heber Springs at the race this morning, we'd met at the Judsonia 5k last fall. She's also another bubbly person that has never met a stranger--I wish I was like that naturally but I have to work on being a more outgoing person. She said that she hadn't been able to run as much since then--her daughter had been burned severely when she fell into hot antifreeze but was doing ok now thank goodness. She had a finish time of just under 26 minutes so she still did excellent. Daylean said she almost didn't recognize me with my arms covered by long sleeves.

The finisher's medal

This race benefitted the Special Olympics and some of the runners afterwards did the polar bear plunge. Not me though, way too chicken!!

Ack!! Just looked at some pics that somebody else took of the race and I really need to start lifting my head up more when running instead of looking down. The chin (or lack of) is not attractive when I'm staring at the ground. If money was no object that would be the only plastic surgery I would consider.

Yeah, I was kind of wiped out!!