3.1s

Ran the 5k my work sponsored today. Final time: 31:46. PR. Not too shabby considering there were a few hills, and it was my first time running in the cold since last winter. It was CHILLY. I felt good by the end but in the beginning my lungs were burning. One coworker beat me, but she's got way more miles under her belt than I do. We were running together for a while but I was painfully aware that I was breathing too heavy to keep that pace for too long, so when she got ahead of me, I let her. I was not quite a minute behind her. She was the first place female. Did I mention this was a pretty small race???

My first mile was 9:42 - first sub-10 minute mile I've ever done in a race. So there's a small victory.

I feel good about the PR. That was a pretty good time for me. I'm a little bummed, though, that I'm still out of qualifying range for that silly half in DC. I'd almost rather a qualifying time be way out of reach (like the Boston Marathon) than to be close enough to it that my somewhat-OCD self is now obsessed with hitting that 31:00 time. I'm seriously considering signing up for a 5k in two weeks and another in 4 weeks. 4 weeks would give me more time to improve, and that's actually when I SHOULD run a 5k, according to Hal Higdon's 10k training plan (which it's time to start now, to prep for the thanksgiving 10k.) But I wanna do the one in two weeks, too, because it's only a few miles from my house and it's on a route that I've partially ran before, so I know it's pretty and flat.

The one in 4 weeks is the Run Like Hell. People run it in costume. I think my old batman costume would work for running, except the cape may be a bit cumbersome.

Also, I think having some idea where I was on the course (besides the mile markers) would have helped. I hate not being able to recognize exactly how far I have to go. That's when it starts feeling like I have to run FOREVER and I start slowing down. Oh, the mental blocks I have to get past....

At least now I'm figuring that next year I should be running 5k's in the 20's. HIGH 20's, but who cares. :) A year and change ago, my 5k time was a whole 7 minutes slower. (So in 2 years, I can run an 18 minute 5k, right?? Hahaha.)

Also, maybe one more run this week would've helped. (See? I'm obsessing!) I ran Monday and Tuesday, both times I ran 3 miles in less than 30 (but once was on the track at my gym, so perfect temperature, perfectly flat surface); I wanted to run Wednesday and/or Thursday but I worked 9-10 hours both days and I was fighting a migraine, so no running.

Maybe by tomorrow my brain will have stopped its silliness and will just be happy that I set a PR. Then I'll figure out which race(s) to sign up for next!

Edit to add: Oh yeah. Splits.
Mile 1: 9:42
Mile 2: 10:53 (? - seems odd - markers might have been off, or it may have been the hill in there)
Mile 3: 10:15