I ran my second 5K race ever, the Santa Monica Classic, on Sunday, May 16, 2010. My first 5K race on April 11 had a start time of 10:30am. The Santa Monica Classic? 7:30am.

I didn’t get home until 1:30 in the morning because I was out with my college roommates. It’s been close to two years since I last saw them, so it was definitely worth sacrificing a few hours of sleep for a much needed rendezvous.

I prefer being a night owl rather than an early bird. If I were a bird, I’d definitely never get the worm. Because I know that I don’t function well in the mornings, I tend to be extremely restless the night before any important event. I slept less than 3 hours when I took my last college final. When I took the LSATs for law school, I slept at most three hours. Same thing goes for early morning flights.

Last night, I just couldn’t fall into a deep sleep. I woke up every hour on the hour because I kept dreaming that I had overslept.

6am finally rolled around and I crawled out of bed. Somehow, I managed to freshen up, get dressed, eat, find my keys and phone by 6:20 and was parked and walking towards the starting line by 6:40. Good thing I got there early. The parking lot was literally a mile away from the start. It actually worked out for the better though, because I used that mile to warm up, stretch, and wake my brain up some more.

The race was not as well-organized as my first 5K, but there was a decent turnout and I was pumped. It was my first race in my Vibrams and I really wanted to beat my PR of 33:21. All of your support and guesses on my finishing time motivated me. I wanted to go out there, run, and be awesome.

The start was a jumbled mess because they didn’t section off people by their speeds, so there were walkers mixed in with runners, but I managed to squeeze by and find my zone. As with the first race, the only thought that went through my head the entire time was “Come on, you can do this. You’ve got this.” I said it out loud multiple times during the race.

When I realized that I wasn’t going to finish in under 30 minutes, I was disappointed in myself, but only for a few seconds. For a brief moment, I thought I was letting all of you guys down because I wasn’t going to finish the 5K in the time you guys had guessed.

Then, it dawned on me. I wasn’t running for you guys. I wasn’t running for anybody but myself. I was doing this for me. I was giving it my all, and that was good enough. I managed to accomplish my goal of running the 5K in under 33 minutes.

My new personal best? 31:38.

I didn’t finish in under 30 minutes, but that’s fine. Sooner or later, I will sub-30. It didn’t happen this race. But for myself, and me only, I will run a 3.1-mile race in under 30 minutes at least once in my life. It will happen. I’ll make damn sure of that.

Overall, I’m really happy with my run today. I pushed myself, I sprinted for the last stretch, and I ran a new personal best, all without running shoes too. Since my first 5K race a month ago, I’ve managed to ditch shoes and shave 1:43 off of my time. That’s pretty sweet.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to snap any photos for the race. My parents are out of the country and making somebody else wake up at the crack of dawn to watch me run for 30 minutes just didn’t feel right.

I was my own biggest fan today, and that was enough.

 

RACE STATS

Place – 668/1638
Age Group – 30/69
Gender Group – 306/1052
Time – 31:38
Pace – 10:12

Congratulations, Tara. You had the closest guess with 31:27. Couswalnachalicious, coming right up! I have never actually made couscous…any tips?

 

Consumption: 2020 calories, 51.5g of fat.

Workout: Upper back. Assisted pull-ups. Lats.

I managed to squeeze in some late night strength training after a much needed nap. I did one set of 5 assisted pull-ups with 90-pounds counter. That’s my best so far. I want to keep getting stronger. One unassisted pull-up by the end of 2010!

Tagged as: 5K race, improvement, my own biggest fan, personal best, PR, vibrams

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1. Day 102: Taking Wagers
2. Day 93: Heal the Bay 5K
3. Day 68: The Pre-Race Jitters