Well, I signed up for this race to feel better about my running. That is was my goal.  (We know also that to feel better would be to run well and improve my speed.)

I knew nothing about the course except that they changed it back to the first year’s course (the one with the hill.)

At least it started early so the day wasn’t shot.

The weather was far from perfect.  It was VERY humid, in the 70’s and VERY VERY windy.  It felt like a hurricane was on the way.

I got there about 20 minutes early…just enough time to get a parking spot and put my swag bag back  in my car. I bumped into the same 2 ladies from last week’s race. (They do 5ks every week.) Otherwise I didn’t know anyone else.  (Most of my running friends are  running  long runs while training for half or full marathons.)

As I said in a previous post, I didn’t really have any written goals.  In the back of my mind was the wish to finish under 30 minutes but with the wind and the fact that I only ran 2 lackluster training runs this week, I would be just glad to finish strong.

The course meandered around the campus (which they said before the race started was worth $4 billion!!!).  There were some uphills but nothing really steep.

I tried not to look at my Garmin but they called out times at every mile so I knew that I was running under 10 minute miles.  I was surprised at that since it was hard running into the wind. I felt at times like I wasn’t even moving.

There were 2 water stops.  I stopped at the first one and walked a bit and then ignored the 2nd one (I did think about it, though.)

When I came toward the finish line, I heard the announcer say “If you run faster, you can still finish under 30 minutes.”

And so I did – 29:53!! Another post-injury PR.

The refreshments were very nice: bagels, cider donuts, whole oranges, bananas, chocolate milk, orange juice.

I hung around with those 2 ladies who always win because they are in the next age group.  And sure enough, they did and I did not.  I came in 7th in 50-59 and would have come in 2nd in the next age group.

 They gave the winners $25 gift certificates to a local diner and they randomly gave huge gift baskets to runners who finished 100. 115, 200, 350, etc.

So 5K #6 is done and at each one I am a little faster.  I guess that’s progress. And I left the race feeling better than before I started (mentally, that is.)

As I did last week, I stopped at the Mohawk Towpath to run some more.

It was very windy but I decided to just grin and bear it – take it slow and walk if necessary.

I headed west and ran along the trail along the Mohawk River.

 When the  trail ended, instead of running along the road, I took a path which turned out to be great since the trees shielded  me from the wind.

I turned back at 1.5 miles and ran the same way back to my car (including a brief stop at a garage sale.)

On my way home, I stopped at Target…love Target!  (needed only a few things and spent almost $200)

Now I am watching the US Open on TV and waiting for the storm to arrive.

Happy Running!  Did you get any rain or did you race or both?