30:38

I knocked 4 minutes off my last 5K time in a matter of 4 months. And it wasn't easy.

Last night I ran the fremont 5K. (My race photo is there to the left.) My intent was to use this race as my tempo run for the week. I haven't competed in a short race or fun run in a few months, and I was curious to see how fast I could really run 3 miles.

I would really chalk this event to a bad run day. I came home from work starving and against my better judgement, had a pretty heavy meal. It was also raining all day, so I wore pants, a long sleeve technical shirt, and a jacket...

It ended up being a beautiful afternoon, and I couldn't believe it. It was actually pretty hot (considering our recent weather), and around mile 2, I could tell my upchuck reflexes were being tested...

I ran the first mile at a relatively slow pace (or so I thought), but then I hit the mile marker at 9:40. I felt fine, but I was distracted by the two barefoot men running near me, and the woman on one leg who passed me.

Between mile 2 and 3 is where it got hard. I could feel myself slowing and couldn't do anything about it. My heart rate was in the 170's (which for me means I'm pushing, but I'm probably at about 80% of my capacity). And all I really felt like I could puke at any time. I even rationalized stopping and walking for 30 seconds.

But come on, it's 3 miles...

There was a large crowd of people around a runner who had fallen. As I got closer I saw his hand was covered in blood. I looked in through the crowd and saw a man in his 40's with a purple face and blood under his nose. It was pretty scary! The ambulance was on it's way for him.

I passed the mile 3 marker at 29 minutes. I could see the finish line, so I wanted to push harder. I could feel my heart pounding, but I pushed anyway. I was 50 feet from the finish line and looked down at my heart rate... 188! Oh Sh*t! But I'm so close. My heart feels like it could jump right out of my chest, and it's over!

When I stopped running my entire body shook. I knew if I had to run another step I would have thrown up. I could feel my dinner packing it's bags and getting ready to come back up.

Sarah finished just after me. She also felt pretty woosy, so we headed to the food table, got some water, and met up with her husband, Michael, at the beer garden. Danielle finished a little after the both of us, so we all went to a bar and got a beer.

The beer actually calmed my stomach, quite a bit!

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The book I'm currently reading, "The Complete Book of Running for Women" casually mentions a 10-minute mile as though it's a slow pace, on par with jogging. I find this fascinating! I've been running for over a year now, and I'm only finally getting to a 10-minute mile pace, and only on my short runs. I think one of my other side goals would be to have a 10-minute mile be my 10K pace. I would LOVE for it to be my distance pace, but really my only motivation for running long distances faster is so I won't have to be out there for so long!

Guess it's time to up the speedwork!