Run For The Homeless Race Report

A few weeks ago my friend Darlene extended an invitation to join Team Hershey for the Run For The Homeless 5K.  Once I saw the race took place less than five minutes from my house I decided I could go ahead and sprinkle a 5K into my marathon training.  I didn't do any tempo runs this week so I figured today's race could serve that purpose.  Of course the weather report wasn't promising at all with predictions of high winds and steady rain.  When I got to packet pick up it was pouring.  Fortunately the rain stopped before the race started but we still had to contend with the high winds.  I just kept telling myself that I can't predict the weather the day of the marathon so I have to prepare for anything that could possibly be thrown at me!  The race course was two loops around our local baseball stadium, finishing next to homeplate inside the stadium!  I had decided not to wear my Ipod since it was so windy.  I figured it would be one less thing to worry about.  As the race started, Darlene and I were pretty close to the front of the pack and were in second and third female position.  I looked down at my watch and saw 6:50 pace.  My mind immediately said: slow down Jodi, this is a tempo/training run not a sprint!  I quickly got into a good rhythm.  Prior to the first mile, I managed to take the first place female position.  The back half of the loop was incredibly windy and I felt like I wasn't going anywhere.  It was quite frustrating until the turn when the wind was at my back.  I noticed my breathing a lot since I didn't wear my Ipod and  it was sounding all kinds of crazy.  During the second lap, I caught up with one of the male runners and was able to draft off of him (with his permission) until we were out of the wind tunnel section.  It was such a welcome relief and I was able to pick it up at the end and finish strong inside the stadium.  Turns out I was in the top ten overall and first female overall.  Not bad for a tempo/training run that I completed in 24:23 (nowhere near a PR but good enough for a first place finish).  Looking forward to my scaled back 12 miler tomorrow!   

 

Team Hershey after the race

Darlene and I
Darlene 4th female overall, 1st place age group
Me 1st female overall

Keep running, you're simply the best, and you inspire me!!