My training for this race was the same as the last one – treadmill at the gym on Monday & Thursday before work for about 30-40 minutes watching tv on my iPod. I haven’t increased my speed above 4.2 mph so I’m running pretty slow and only about 2 miles or so.  I would run longer but I have to get to work. I have decided that I like running in the morning better.

I ran this race last year.  I remember thinking that it was very hilly but after last week I thought I’d feel differently.  I bumped into the 3 sisters that I met at the last race.  They are so nice… but they decided to do the 3k walk instead of the run.

It was cold!!!! Maybe 40 degrees if that.  I didn’t know what to wear but I remembered that last year, my hands were cold so I wore gloves. I also wore the long sleeve cool max shirt from the Bruegger’s race & a windbreaker.  I wore shorts (I think I was the only one). Actually I wasn’t cold while I was running.

Yes, it was hilly.  The 1st 3/4 mile was uphill and the middle was slightly hilly.  The end was downhill mostly.  I felt good and didn’t walk at all.  I only stopped when I dropped my glove and for water. Obviously was not running fast up the hills and crossed the finish line around 31:20.  I’m not sure.

The strange thing was that there was no chip timing like last year.  They didn’t rip off the bottom of the numbers.  You just wrote your time on a piece of paper & put it in a box.  I wonder how many people were honest.

They only announced the first place man & woman and raffle prize winners.

My prayers were answered — it did not rain!!!! The streets were wet and it was humid but even the sun came out for a few minutes!!

I convinced my husband to give me a ride so I wouldn’t have to look for parking – he dropped me off to find the law school team so  I could get my tee shirt and take photo before the race.

Albany Law School Team

As I found last year, it was a very emotional race looking at all the survivors of breast cancer and all those wearing names on their backs of friends and relatives who died from this disease.  I myself have  7 close friends who have  had breast cancer.

Since it wasn’t raining, I gave my jacket to my husband and Colleen (a new runner from work) &  I headed to the race.  It was late so we squeezed into the crowd at the start. 

me & Colleen

Halfway up the Madison Ave hill, I was out of breath.  It was either my cold, mucus in my lungs or the fact that I haven’t run in a week. I struggled the whole race.  My one mile time wasn’t too bad -10 min, but the during the 2nd mile, I had to stop to catch my breath or blow my nose several times and was up to 21 min.  I knew this wouldn’t be a PR race so I continued and surprisingly I was able to sprint through the finish line. 31:15 is what Cool Running web site says.  616 out 1250 women.

Me behind Colleen at the start

My  slowest 5k time since May 😦  

Even so, I always feel so good after a race that I can’t wait to do another.  If only I wasn’t so competitive.

I had a sore throat all night and didn’t sleep.  Woke up with a cold.  I debated all day whether or not I should do this race.  I felt crappy all day but decided to give it a whirl.

It was pretty chilly.  I wore my pants & jacket til the start of the race. As they said, it was a flat course.  There were about 500 runners and all the fast ones were there.

I met a new friend, a woman in her fifties new to running.  This was her 2nd 5k. Her name is Sue. I met someone I know from tennis who was running in her lst race. It made me feel like a veteran runner.

I was determined to do my best, despite a runny nose and difficulty breathing.  I really struggled the last mile and was shocked to see that I was under 30 minutes.  I finished at 29:59!!!! Amazing!

I'm the one on the right

Sue and I hung out after the race.  There was free beer and pizza for $1.  They gave out awards.  We didn’t win.  The times were really fast.

I’m glad I did it.  I’ll do this one next year!

It was a beautiful morning for a run –  I got there early since I thought the race started at 10am and it actually started at 10:30 am. It was pretty cool.  I wore a tank top but couldn’t bear to take off my jacket til right before the start.  One man was even wearing gloves.

The turn out was small so I was running by myself all of the race through the neighborhood.  I was glad I wore what I wore since I warmed up quickly.  The course was confusing.  There were times I was not sure I was going the right way and the roads weren’t closed to traffic so there were cars backing out of driveways and going down the streets.

I slowed my pace after the last race where I ran out of gas at the end.  I looked at my iPod after one mile and it was over 10 minutes – not good for a PR.  I quickened my pace and ran the whole race without walking.  It was the first race I’ve run where I didn’t feel tired.  When I came close enough to see the finish line, it said 30 minutes. I was mad!  I sprinted as fast as I could to finish under 31 minutes and fortunately I did .

After the race, I felt that I could still have run another few miles.  This was encouraging after the way I felt during the week when I run.

I still have to find a good pace.  Fast enough in the first mile but not too fast so I can finish strong.

Next race I signed up for is Sunday at the Crossings – I’m also thinking of Friday night – the Arsenal City 5k.  We’ll see how the week goes and how the weather is.

It started out poorly but ended pretty good.

I went to bed too late and couldn’t sleep.  I got up at 6:30 am instead of 6:00 am and had to drive about 95 mph to get to Saratoga on time.  When I got there, the parking lot was full  luckily I found a nearby spot on the street.  I dashed to registration to get my number and chip and then to the starting line – phew!

It was a beautiful day and I love the course.  I ran the lst mile at 8 something which was too fast, then the 2nd mile at 18 something so I was on pace to finish under 30 minutes – a PR!?  I ran out of gas at the end and crossed the finish line according to my iPod at 30:40 and I was pleased.  Not a PR but my fastest of the season  – http://bit.ly/1ZkoiU