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Silks and Satins 5K Race Recap


July 21, 2018 – 8:00 am

When I first started running, this race was one of my favorite 5ks. I ran it in 2008, 2009, 2010.

in 2008 – my first year of running

in 2010, this is where I met AJH for the first time (I was wearing shorts back then.)

It’s funny how things have changed. AJH was trying to convince me to run a longer race. Since then I have completed 31 half marathons.

My 5k time back in 2010 was 29:34.

After 5 years off (from this race), I ran it again in 2015. And my time was 28:41. So things hadn’t changed that much (but I started to wear running skirts instead of shorts).

I enjoyed this race so much that I re-added to my summer racing list and ran it again in 2016 and 2017, lowering my finish time each year. (28:27, 27:37)

WouldI again this year???

Here is the map for the course that I ran the past 3 years:

15 turns in this course!!

Due to construction, it was changed slightly this year: The finish line was changed to 80 yards west on George St. so the start was re-located to 80 yards south on East Ave.

The race started at 8 am. That meant that I had to get up at 5:30. (And I was out late with friends the previous evening.)

This being the opening weekend of the Saratoga Flat Track, believe it or not there was already a lot of traffic at 7 am. I was glad to have left early and found parking in a nearby lot. (I was careful this year to park in the correct lot.  Three years ago, I almost got towed.)

unisex shirt than even a XS was too big 😦 We did get free tickets to the track which I plan to use later in the summer!!!

The new pick-up area was moved to behind the barn on the corner of Case & Mitchell, not too far from the old location. I picked up my bib and shirt and then went back to my car and watched the horses work out for a bit.

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There were close to 1000 runners at this race. So I bumped into quite a few familiar faces: Sue, my Shape & Brooklyn half roommate, Holly and Nancy from the Freihofer’s group and Judy, my current Sat. runny buddy., Patrick, the director for this race and coach for my running groups, to name a few.

The weather was warm … around 70 at the start and HUMID but not quite as warm as it has been in past weeks.. I just hung around and chatted until it was time to head to the start.  I continued to hang out and chat with Nancy, Holly and Judy and should have lined up closer to the start line since it wasn’t chip-timed. But I just wasn’t paying attention or cared at the time.

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And so we were off.

pic from the Saratogian

 

Nancy is super fast and Holly is fast as well.  Nancy took off and just disappeared, I tried to keep Holly in my sight during the first mile but then I lost her.  I wasn’t sure if she was ahead or behind.  I lost track of Judy, as well, who was behind me.

It seemed like everyone was passing me by…because they were. But as usual, my first mile was too fast. My plan was to have negative splits and but that never happened.

By the second mile, I was starting to struggle with my breathing.

It was warm but I have run in higher temps.  It was the HUMIDITY.  And it was sucking the life out of me.

nothing exciting about the course…just around the neighborhood – pic from the Saratogian

I tried to run in the shade when there was shade and run the tangents (all 15 of them). I had planned to walk at the one water stop at the halfway point but I was looking ahead at the tangent and totally missed it because it was on the other side.

And as it turned out, my legs were tired, I was thirsty and I probably should have walked a little to catch my breath.  I wasn’t looking at my Garmin at all but I could tell that I was getting slower at each mile.

pic from the Daily Gazette

By mile 3, I was fading.  I think I say this during every 5k race recap.  I guess that means that I should either start out slower or do speed drills to build up my endurance.

Anyway, I tried to get up enough energy to sprint through the finish line.

I crossed at 27:XX (Gun time).

It was actually a few seconds faster than last year which was shocking.

Judy & I – sweaty but happy

Then I searched for my friends and found them on the food line.

Several years ago, the refreshments consisted of bagels & chocolate milk. This year like last year, there was only watermelon & bananas. I had several pieces of watermelon, a banana and a granola bar.  And I felt much better.

pic from the Saratogian

They posted the results pretty quickly. I was shocked that I won in my NEW age group. Unfortunately, Holly was 5th but Nancy and Judy came in 2nd in their age groups.

While waiting for the awards ceremony, I bumped into more runners that I knew (Michele, Judy) and they all got awards, as well.

I got a nice medal. It always feels great when you win an award.

All in all, this was a fun race. Besides all the turns, the race course is pretty flat. It is well-organized. Plus it raises money for a great cause (Special Olympics). So I plan to run this race again next summer.

Splits:

mile 1- 8:27
mile 2 – 8:46
mile 3 – 9:12
.14 – 7:44

27:28 (Garmin time)

positive splits again!!!

I’m a sucker for swag and anything Central Park:

I get a tech shirt and an awesome medal.

So this race will count but I will do the real thing in August when I am actually in Central Park.

Since this was Saturday and I usually do my long run on Saturdays, I had planned on adding 6 more miles after the race.  But I was too hot and tired so instead I spent the day on our boat.

post race relaxing

Since it’s Tuesday, I’m linking up with these wonderful ladies:

Erika @ MCM Mama Runs, Marcia @ Marcia’s Healthy Slice and Patty @ My no-guilt life for

I am joining up with Running on Happy, Suzlyfe, Crazy Running Girl, and Coach Debbie Runs for the Coaches’ Corner linkup

coachescorner

Happy Running! How is your running going this summer? Any recent races?

36 thoughts on “Silks and Satins 5K Race Recap”

  2. Congrats on your age group win! Watermelon is my absolute favorite food after a hot race. After MCM last year, I was ready to steal it from the spectators if there had not been enough for runners (it’s provided by the watermelon board and not a runner only thing.) Luckily I was able to get what I needed LOL.

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  5. Congrats on your age group win! It is nice to see the different times each year in the same race. There are a few races I do each year but I’ve noticed that I am getting slower. Oh well. They’re still fun races!

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    • Winning an award is always sweet but as you know it is based on who shows up and for this race, my faster competition did not.
      Having a decent time (esp a course PR) and no pain afterward is much more important than an award.

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      • Course PRs are definitely satisfying. I know my PR streak will come to an end — no doubt with Cape Cod. Doesn’t mean I won’t continue to train for them.

        Of course I’d rather continue to PR — who wouldn’t? — but just getting out there, doing your best, and finishing is pretty darn fulfilling too. Especially when you drive 13.1 miles and you realize just how long it really is!

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        • I know. When I drive, I am amazed at how far that is.

          I never train for a PR so I would never be disappointed when I don’t. I still always do my best.

          Cape Cod is flat and it will be much cooler. The way you are going, I bet the PRs continue.

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  9. congrats on winning first in your AG – that’s awesome!

    Running in the humidity is no easy task. I’ll be happy when we start seeing Fall-like weather, hopefully in September!

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