MRRS 5 miler #2

Well, today was the second of the five mile races and my debate yesterday was whether to treat it as a 5 mile recovery run or a 5 mile LT run. After yesterday's 14, I decided it was going to be a recovery run for sure. Then this morning the debate was whether or not I even wanted to get out of bed!! Drew tried to convince me to get up, but it wasn't until Laura called me at 6:30 and asked where to park that I quickly dashed out of bed. The race started at 7, so I grabbed all my clothes and some water and got dressed on the way over there. Which is fine, but I did not eat or use the bathroom!!

I found Laura at the start and said I was just taking it easy, but we ended up running together most of the race. I wasn't sure what would happen or how fast I would go. Mile 1 was in 9:43 and I felt alright - my hips and knees were really sore from yesterday. Mile 2 was in 9:25 and I was still feeling okay so I thought maybe we would run negative splits for all 5 miles. Mile 3 was in 9:19 and then I had flashbacks to Nashville and the negative splits were out the window!!! My stomach started to cramp up and I was super hungry, so when we hit that mile marker 3 I walked for about 30 seconds, so mile 4 was in 9:53 - still under 10:00. Then I walked for 45 seconds at mile marker 4 and I just jogged in for the finish. Mile 5 was in 10:23 for a total of 48:44. That time is fine with me - that is a good recovery run pace. I really had no need to run negative splits today because I really feel like my legs need a break. Plus I was satisfied with my first 5 mile time of 42:58, which puts me in sixth place overall in this series. My goals for this series are to run my marathon pace (9:00/miles) or under for one race at each distance and to place in the top ten. Two distances down and my goals are being hit so far.

We came home and ate some breakfast and I've been laying around watching Jack Bauer kick some arse on 24 and doing school work all day!! My legs are loving this time spent laying around.