Battle for Ballston 5k: Race Recap

My weekend started out rough when my stomach issues hit me hard Friday night. I had to cancel dinner plans and stay home and sulk.

Saturday, however, has been much better. Neil and I had the alarm set for 6:30 am to head to our 5k. I walked the dog while Neil made toast and coffee and we were out the door by 7. We picked up Neil’s brother Matt and headed to the course.

This is the first small race I have done in over 2 years and it was refreshing. For one, we picked up our packets 30 minutes before the race started. Two, there were no issues parking or fighting crowds. Shortly after getting our packets, we met up with Katie, Kate, Brittany, Joe, Shawn and an awesome reader Suzanne.

Neil and I had planned on starting the race at a 9:00 min/mile pace and gradually increasing from there. However, our pace at the beginning was closer to 8:00 min/mile and it wasn’t painful so we did not slow down too much. The course was mostly on a trail in Arlington. There were a few small hills, but nothing major. At the end both Neil and Matt ended up sprinting ahead of me, but considering my legs aren’t very fresh from marathon training I’m very happy with my time. According to my garmin:

Distance: 3.11 miles
Total time: 26:12
Average pace: 8:26 min/mile

Mile 1: 8:28
Mile 2: 8:33
Mile 3: 8:22
0.11: 7:32

I sprinted at the end because a guy started coming up behind me and there was no way I was going to get passed at the end! I do hope to focus on doing a speedy short race instead of long distance running some day.

I’m very thankful that the blog has given me the opportunity to meet so many cool people. Post-race shot:

After the race we went to Whitlows for brunch with the whole group. I appreciated the make-your-own bloody mary bar.

Kate, Katie and Brittany:

Me and Suzanne:

Afterwards Neil and I stopped at GW to visit my friend in the hospital (I don’t want to go into it much, but a friend had a very close call on Monday. It was very scary and is a reason I haven’t been posting as much this week). Then we took Leela to Rock Creek Park for a mini-hike. I truly love that I can be in the middle of the city, and in a forest at the same time. And the dog loves exploring.

When I got home I had the urge to bake, so I cooked up a batch of delicious chocolate chip cookies. I actually ran out of white flour and used half whole wheat flour and they still turned out well.

Besides that, and another long walk with Leela I’ve been relaxing most of the day. Running a 5k first thing gives you a pass to be lazy the rest of the day, right?