CRSS Race for Hope 5k Report

This is the 2nd year of the race and the second year for me. I planned to meet my running friend Mary at the race. I have met her at 2 previous 5ks but in the meantime, she has been running long distances (She even did a 1/2 marathon).

I remember this race as being hilly but my time last year was pretty good at 30:14. Again, my goal was to PR or at least come close.

The weather for this race couldn’t have been more perfect – sunny, high 50’s. Mary & I met in the parking lot and took some photos. I also bumped into the tennis friend who introduced me to running but she was walking the race.

The race wasn’t chipped timed so Mary & I started near the beginning. We were both hoping to finish under 30 minutes.

The race started with a BIG HILL!!! I was out of breath at the end and it took me the next mile to get my breathing in sync. I am usually several minutes ahead of Mary but she has more stamina now that she is running longer distances. Every time I looked she was on my right. I was struggling to stay ahead.

The rest of the race was hilly as well as we winded around the Slingerlands neighborhoods. At mile 1, the electronic timer said: 10:03. That was slow but the first hill slowed me down.

I tried to pick up the pace but at mile 2: the electronic timer said: 20:05 – not much improvement.

Now I was determined to run faster. At mile 3: there was no timer, but a volunteer yelled: 28:45 which made me happy though I had picked up speed but I knew it would not be a PR.

The last .15 mile was finally downhill. I saw the finish line in the distance read :29:5.. so I ran as fast as I could and crossed at 30:11 (at least that’s what the results said..I think I was faster!) Mary crossed 5 seconds after me.