Circle of Friends Run for the Rainbow 5K Race Report

On Friday evening, Todd and I ran the Circle of Friends Run for the Rainbow 5K.  We ran it in 2010 with my friend Emily, but this year she had a wedding to attend so she ended up just donating some money for the race and we got her free race entries. 

I hadn't run a 5K since last July, which I ran in 21:3X, and felt like my running had been going a lot better this year--more miles, more speedwork, and faster paces.  My goal going into the race was to break 21:00, something I hadn't done in quite a few years....partly because I've only run a few 5Ks since I graduated from college in 2005.  With the temps near 90 right before the race, I made sure to hydrate but was a little nervous the heat would affect my race.  At 7:00 PM, the race started.

Before the race

The Stats

Mile 1: 6:26
Mile 2: 6:40
Mile 3: 6:59
Mile 0.1: 0:39

Overall Time for 5K: 20:45
Average Pace: 6:42

Overall: 11/319
Female: 4 (not sure out of how many)
Age Group:??

**They didn't post age group results, only overall, but I knew I was the 4th female because during the entire race, I could see the other 3 right ahead of me

I finally did it!  I ran my fastest 5K in about 10 years and was only 30 seconds off my PR of 20:16.  I felt really good the whole race and was excited to see my splits were a little bit more even than they have been when I run 5Ks.  Looks like I do have a little bit of speed left in these legs of mine!  I think a big part of the mental aspect of running a 5K is the fact that I've run a lot of 10-12 miles in the past couple months so 3 miles really seemed liked nothing.  I knew I could push myself for about 20 minutes.  The course was really nice too--it ran through New Albany, a suburb of Columbus that has some of the best houses in the city.  It was an out and back course so I was able to see Todd around the halfway point (he ran it in 24:40) but it also meant a slight uphill on the way back to the finish area since the first part was a gradual downhill.  Again, I surprised myself with running the last mile under 7 minute pace (although it was barely) considering the hot temps and slight uphill.

Official race photo (yes, they had a race photographer for a 5K!)....this was right at the finish & you can tell that I'm staring at the race clock to make sure I break 21:00

3.1 miles in 20:45 for 6:42 pace

After the race, they had a ton of food and vendors set up.  We had free blizzards from Dairy Queen and they also had Subway subs, Panera bagels, fresh fruit, and Cheryl's Cookies. We hung around for about 30 minutes or so and finally headed out around 8:00 PM. 

Post race enjoying my blizzard and my fast time

Todd eating a sub