Saturday morning we all met up and got ready for the race. It wasn't a large race but for a smaller town, almost 1,200 participants was a pretty large group.
I am always nervous on race day no matter what. I think about all the what if's. What if I have to go to the bathroom during. What if I don't do as good as I want. What if I don't finish. Once the race starts and I get in a groove, I forget about the what if's.
I went into this race thinking about my PR and wondering if I could beat it. I knew I could get close but didn't want to get disappointed if I didn't. My son was running with our group so I decided not to put too much pressure on myself and to have a good time.
They counted down and soon enough we were off. I felt good. About 1/4 mile in I looked at my watch and saw that I was on pace for an 8:15 mile. That's good for me considering all of the dodging of people you have to do in the beginning of a race. I knew that I needed to speed it up if I had any chance of setting a new PR.
I only looked at my watch here and there to see where I was at but I decided to go by how I felt. There were a decent amount of hills in this race and I am definitely not used to hills. Training on hills is on my must do list. They kicked my butt. I powered through though. The downhills towards the end saved me.
I saw the clock as I crossed the finish line and knew I was in the 24's (my previous PR was 24:51). I was beyond excited when I saw my official time and it was 24:09!!! A new PR!
I mentioned that my son ran this with me. He is 11 years old and does not run on a regular basis. He is very involved in athletics so that helps him but I am pretty darn proud of him for running and loving it! This is his 4th 5k and his best! Actually, proud doesn't even begin to describe how I feel. I love this kid with everything I have!
~Jessica
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