Kings 5K

here is the race report for my first running race since the foot surgery. It was a 5k and I was lucky enough to be the 2nd female overall and the 1st in my age group. It was my first race back after surgery so Ill consider it a success. It was a tough day to race. It rained here all day yesterday and we have been having strong windstorms all day yesterday and today. So windy that part of my neighbors house tore off and concrete benches were turned over. I've got to go clean up my backyard because there is stuff everywhere. I decided to ride stefan to the race as it was only a few miles away from my house. As I was riding down I was thinking I should have brought Troy, my mountain bike, as there was a lot of broken tree limbs on the ground as well as some mud , washout stuff to ride though. Did I mention it was cold and I really didn't dress well enough. I don't know what I was thinking. I wore tights, a long sleeve technical shirt and a windbreaker jacket. I also had my riding gloves. Initially i planned on taking all of this off to race but i was so cold i kept all of it on. i really should have worn my under armour but i thought it would be too warm for that. I really didn't get warmed up on the bike ride down so I did a slow jog for a bit to get warmed up. That didn't really help either so I tried to make sure my lower legs/ feet were stretched out. Mostly I was just shaking cold until the gun went off. I really wasn't nervous at all for the race. I didn't have an real expectations of myself coming off the surgery so i guess i had nothing to be nervous for. I actually told someone that it would probably take me 26 or 27 minutes to run it just because i feel like that is where i am at right now. I passed a group of girls in the first quarter mile. The race starts down in a park and runs up a hill onto the levee system. when i got to the top of the hill I could basically see who was in front of me and it looked like all guys. Running on the levee is usually fun because it is flat and fast but today it was just windy as hell. You had to ask yourself if you were even moving forward. The 3 hills in the race are all getting on and off the levee system so they are short but a good grade. as I was approaching the turnaround point I was watching to see who was in front of me and I realized that I was actually leading the race. I held that lead through the first 2 miles. I got passed on the last hill and I wanted to try to keep her close because i've always had a good kick at the end. probably the years of track in my past but I honestly just couldn't keep her close enough to catch her at the end. I didn't run a good tactical race; I waited until the downhill towards the finish to really kick in and that's too late everyone does it there. Also I should have tried to stay behind some of the guys I was running near and let them take some of the wind for me but I felt like I was running too slow when I was doing that. Its the first time i've raced in awhile so i was most likely too excited just being there. i can honestly say i did run as hard as i could for the thing. i probably went out too hard but the thing is so short that I wanted to try to really go for it the whole way and i haven't been racing so i had no idea where i was really at race pace wise. I wasn't even checking my watch I really didn't care what it had to say i was so focused on going forward! I thought i started my garmin at the beginning of the race but it wasn't working so i started it on top of the levee. I also forgot to stop it when i was done. Don't worry I did remember to start and stop my ipod. Priorities!
I believe my time was 26 minutes and few seconds. There was mumblings after the race about the times being wrong. I did this race last year and it was my worst race of the season. It took me 26:34 then. I remember getting 25 something on my watch, again issues with the way they run their timing. over the board times were slower today and it had to be the wind factor. The overall male winner ran it just short of 20 minutes and usually that is a few minutes lower. I have a feeling I placed so well because a lot of people didn't show with the weather. Hopefully it only gets better for me from here. I haven't had much run training on my legs with the whole foot surgery situation. I didn't really notice any pain when i was running however my feet and pretty much everything else were freezing! I ran the whole race without my orthos and my left foot is still sore from running with them a week ago! I need to get the strength in my feet built back up and my lower legs stretched out as much as possible. One of the guys that was drafting off of me told me that I was running kicking my legs out like a duck. He said i kept flicking them to the side instead of pulling them forward. what was that about? The data i have off my garmin has me at 25.31. avg pace 8:36 best pace 6:26. avg hr 172. max hr 195. The t-shirts they gave out are bright yellow so it will be great to ride my bike in for visibility and I'll be wearing the maillot jaune!

meal 1 - sprouted grain bagel
meal 2 - banana
meal 3 - vega wfo w/coconut water
meal 4 - clif bar
meal 5 - tofu, red pepper, mushrooms, onions, guacamole, peanuts