new 5K PR!!!

This has to be fast because I have to get to work. Ugh...it's taking over my life...

I did the Utah Arts Festival Art Attack 5K this morning. The weather was great at 65F and sunny (18C). A little warm for me, but it wasn't a factor I don't think. The race was in SugarHouse Park, which has a bunch of rolling hills. I wondered how I'd do since I've done very few hills lately due to injury. I warmed up for about 1.6km in about 10 min, with a few strides thrown in. I felt sluggish on the warm-up.

My bib number was #123 - I considered this a happy coincidence, since that was my bib # for the 15K in Riverside in May, a race that went quite well for me. So, despite the sluggish warm-up, I figured I was good to go.

We started off and the course was 2x around the park plus a little out and back to the start/finish line to make 5K. I did the first 500m in 2:45 (perfect!) and then there was the uphill by the Lake Terrace parking lot (or whatever its new name is...). I got to 1km in about 5:40 or 5:45, not sure exactly, but I knew the hill had slowed me a bit. I picked up the pace. I noticed that my HR was pretty lowish today - I felt I was pushing myself pretty hard but it didn't show. Jim said it's because I'm getting fitter.

I got to 2K by my watch in about 11:35, so that was good - I'd pushed up the second hill and done well. I cruised down the hill to the halfway point and arrived in 13:46. Hmmm, maybe I might get a new PR? It was looking good. I felt I had some gas left in the tank. The second time around the park was hard and I really pushed it. I was hoping for sub-28 as I neared the finish line, and sprinted hard for the last couple hundred meters. WOW! 27:45! I was very excited to see that number on my watch.

My previous PR was 27:57 on a downhill course. This course had several 20m hills, and so it was much tougher. I should be able to go faster on the track, I hope! Exciting! Somehow I'm back in good shape already. Only 12 days until the 5K race at WMA in Sacramento. I'm excited! I wish I'd been able to train harder for longer, but I couldn't, so I'll take what I can get, and a PR today is a great way to get things going.

Best of all, my shin did not hurt at all, during the race or after. I'm icing it now just in case, but it's totally fine.

Garmin connect data here.