100% Irish For a Day 5K Race Report

This was the first annual for this race, which I didn’t know on signing up. The main reason I opted to do it was because, while it was $25 which is about standard for a 5K around here, there was a nice Asics Tech shirt and that was worth it as far as I’m concerned. It was run around Lake Harriet, one of the Minneapolis chain of lakes and part of the Twin Cities Marathon course. The local businesses were the supporters for it, and it was nice to draw business down there, and the goodie bag had coupons for the shops and restaurants. The main supporter of the race is Marathon Sports, my main running store for shoes at least and also listed in a recent RW article as one of the top running stores in the country. Very knowledgeable staff and the first place I send anyone looking for shoes.

OK, enough on that. The weather was cool, probably upper 20s, so I was in tights, a light weight tight top, a tech top and my jacket since I needed something with pockets. I wore my Nike Zoom elites for a lighter shoe and did a 1.9 mile warm up, took a bathroom break and headed to the start line (finished the warm up about 20 minutes before the run). I did a few strides and sorted myself near the front. It was announced right before the 10 am start that they would only have official times online for the top 500 people. I later learned 1200 had pre-registered and they thought another 1000 had come to register race day…so it was a big crowd and I’m glad I was at the front. My previous PR in a 5K was 25:17, unofficially (didn’t go by race clock since it took 2 minutes to cross the start line). I wanted a new PR, finally do the under 25:00 thing and I figured having run 10 miles at 8:08 on Sunday that 7:30 was a feasible run. I had been out a little too late on Friday night and probably had 2 more beers than I should have, but with a 10 am start I was rested enough I thought. The first mile was way too fast. 6:38…oops. I knew I wouldn’t keep that pace but it had been, in part, down a couple of good inclines and I was caught up in the start. Mile 2 was right around 7:10 (too lazy to find Garmin right now) and I had a guy breathing heavy right on my back that I would hear the rest of the race. I just had this thought/fear that he was going to just get past me at the finish and I was going to be a bit mad at that one…mainly because I knew I was going all out, thoughts of stopping and vomiting were heavy in my mind in fact!! Anyway, I pushed it out and finished mile 3, just up a slight incline (remember that hill at the beginning, what goes down, must go back up!) and I knew soon I would see the turn that would lead to the finish. Split was right around 7:12….and the finish was in sight. I had nothing left, or so I thought, to push out and a girl came up to pass me in the last few steps and finished a second in front of me…and then I heard the guy still back there (he had dropped of) and I could see him out of the corner of my eye, so I dug down deep and pushed what I had and kept just in front of him to finish in exactly 22:00 officially. (Garmin time of 21:53 with the couple seconds it took to get to the start). I checked official results and I was 64^th out of the 501 they kept time for. They weren’t doing age group breakdowns or anything like that, I might attempt to figure out where I placed age groupwise though. I remembered though, that 5Ks aren’t so much fun. They are hard!! I was not feeling great. I didn’t exactly train for a 5K either. No speed work geared toward that distance, I had 37 miles this week prior to today (where I added another 10 total) and I have run ever day for the last 12. So not a bad run I’d say on tired legs. My guess is I have a shot at going under 20 minutes if I really try.

I do have to say I will do this race again though. Well, run, nice course, and a great spread at the end. Bagels from my favorite local bagel place, beer was available for purchase, but I opted out to have drinks later tonight, and some great samples and coupons, including a chance to try Naked Juice finally and a free coupon and 2 $1 off ones!!

Oh, and now the results as I can see them.

64th Overall
12th Woman (overall woman's winner was the US Women's 10000 Winner Last year)
5th in Age group 30-30