This race sucked for many reasons but I’ll get into that later in this post.

The race started at 8:30  at the Brookside Museum in Ballston Spa about 40 minutes away from my house. This nice local race usually has about 300 runners. There’s no parking lot but it is easy to find parking on the street.  There are bathrooms in the museum which is always a plus.

I’ve done this race 4 times before. I’ve always enjoyed it.

• 2009 – 31:04
• 2010 – 29:49
• 2012 – 30:58
• 2014 – 28:25

I know that you walk up a hill to start the race and you finish running down this hill. Couldn’t be any better than that.

So I was pretty excited all week to run this race.  Do I hear PR possibility??

But silly me is taking advantage 100% of my unemployment status.   This is how my week went:

Sat – hilly hilly 10k, a walk
Sun – a run, 2 hikes
Mon – a run, a hard hike
Tues – tennis twice
Wed – a run, a walk
Thurs – tennis, a run
Fri – tennis (3 hrs)

Do you see the word rest there? Nope.  Me neither.

To make things worse, I woke up Saturday am with an upset stomach. I ate a little and took my tea with me and made my way to the race.

I got there early enough to find a close spot and use the rest room (in the museum).  The weather was great – high 60’s – the best weather we’ve had for running this summer.

I was disappointed to not see many friends there.  I did see one lady that I know but hung out with 2 older guys. (One is in his 80’s and the other in his 60’s who is pretty fast.)

I felt nauseous and couldn’t even get a GU down. But I still had high hopes for the race.

This time I didn’t forget to start my Garmin but I put it on too lose and so it turned to where I couldn’t see my pace.  (Probably not a bad thing.)

I looked for my friend at the start. I thought he could pace me because he is slightly faster than me. But I couldn’t find him so I had to go at it alone.

The first mile was a gradual uphill but nothing steep.  I was going to try to hold back but my legs felt like lead so I didn’t need to worry about that.

I was hoping to run the whole thing but around halfway at the water stop, I was sick to my stomach and out of breath so I stopped and walked for a while.

Mile 2 seemed to be flat but every time I tried to speed up, I felt nauseous and out of breath so I walked again and again. I knew I had to give up on hopes of a PR and just finish the race.

I knew there was that downhill at the finish but I found myself walking AGAIN, right before it.

Finally I got to the steep downhill, I wish I was confident enough to go all out but I was afraid of falling flat on my face so I held back. And then my hat blew off and got stuck in my scrunchie.  I gave up trying to put my hat back on and held it in my hand. But it was hard to sprint with a hat in your hand so I just threw it to the side.

Then I saw the clock.  It was 28:xx and I ran as fast as I could.

I crossed at 28:33.

I was NOT happy.

I immediately saw my friend who was waiting for me.  He was worried because I was way ahead of him and then he saw me bonk and he finished ahead of me.  He was also very disappointed in his time so we walked to get my hat and commiserated together.

Well, at least I won my age group.

And it was more useful that last week’s muffin.

Splits:

mile 1 –  9:05
mile 2 – 9:24
mile 3 – 9:05
.14 -7:03

I hate to be a Debbie Downer because those paces aren’t bad.  But you don’t get many opportunities to race with this weather and a course with a downhill finish.

I decided after to race to bag my plan to go to the Zim Smith Bike Path to run 7 more miles.  (A LSD in preparation for my Sept. 18 Half.)

Instead I called my hubby to tell him that I was coming up to the lake. My hubby had a friend along so we had to play tour guide before heading to the bay to hang out with our friends.

The best part was that my hubby’s friend likes to hike so I had a partner to try and find Shelving Rock Falls.

Unfortunately, I did not feel well all day and when they decided to go out to dinner in town, I left to drive home.

I’m already over my race performance.  It is what it is.  I’ve glad to be healthy enough to run. There will be other 5ks and there will be other bad races. (Maybe even some good ones 🙂 )

Since it is Sunday, I am linking with Ilka and Angela for the Sunday Fitness and Food Linkup.

Happy Running! Any racing plans this weekend? Ever suck on a race that should have been a PR?