Johnny's Run Like Hell 5K Race Recap

I did it! I ran like hell and set a brand new, sparkling PR.

You can see me running across the finish line as the clock shows my time. 

My new PR for the 5K is 23:28 which is a 7:34/mile. It was good enough for me to get third place in age group out of 21! My overall place was 67/523.  And I also got a bronze third place medal. First time in my life I got anything other than a participation trophy for a sport. Did I mention that the second place girl was four seconds before me? I wish I had pushed to the front of the pack before the race, because I spent a good part of the 5K fighting to run ahead of all the slow people in front of me. I may have been rude darting in front of people whenever I saw even a small opening, but a girl's gotta do what she's gotta do in trying for a PR. But at least I placed and got a medal. This just means next time, I'll do even better. 

Unfortunately, I don't have any mile splits for you guys. After I crossed the finish line, I couldn't think. I didn't see the timing people scan me in. I just stumbled toward the water. I even forgot to stop my garmin! Then I spent the next hour or so trying not to throw up. I think it's the full bottle of water I foolishly chugged after the hardest race of my life so far. But totally worth it.

This time, my bfriend ran with me. He was able to fight the crowd better and was in front of me for a while, but when I caught up, he shouted, "Go Rena go," which really sent me off.

Here we are looking really happy before the race. Btw, the shirts we are wearing are the race shirts. It was colder than we expected and those were the only long sleeves we had. 

Here we are looking really tired after the race. The bfriend clocked in at 27:03. 

Did I mention that this was a costume race with six pack runners? I didn't realize that so many people would be dressed up, or I would have tried to find something. It was a lot of fun to watch all the runners. And the bfirend's mom was nice enough to take tons of photos with her iphone. 

This lady with the stroller was really fast. She was easily in front of me with a stroller, in costume. But then she decided to wait for her daughter. And I passed her. 

There were also a group of really fast looking guys in underwear and capes. I passed them in the last 0.5 miles. Booyah! There was also a man who tried talking to me in the last 0.5. I grimaced and panted at him. He must have thought I was a weirdo, because he didn't say anything else. 

I am coming up in the back in front of Alan from the Hangovers. He had a baby carrier with a teddy bear strapped to him. And the Fred Flitstone in front of me ran the whole thing barefoot. No vibrams or anything. Just plain old foot on asphalt. 

The green guy had his whole body covered even his eyes. The only thing he had was a hole for his mouth. I can't imagine running like that. 

There were some funny six pack runners. (Six pack is a group of six runners all connected by something running together.)

You can see the mario cart racers. And the guy in a big white  ball next to the mario carts was an egg. He was connected to five other runners in the back who were sperms. So It was a pack of sperm chasing an egg. 

Next time I do this race, I'd definitely dress up. And the best part about this whole race was that according to McMillian Running Calculator, with my 5K time, I could run an equivalent of a sub hour 50 min half marathon! I will be posting my training schedule for my birthday race soon! 

I hope everyone's weekends went well. And for everyone who raced, please share! And what really helped me mentally for this race was that I didn't look at the distance screen of the garmin. I just kept my eyes on my pace. I think if I kept on looking at my mileage, I would have lost heart. What works for you when you're trying to run fast?