Ooooh, about to leave for my 5K! Nervous nervous nervous! The only part I’m really nervous about is going alone. I don’t know why. Ack! Nervous! Okay, should go now…will post race report when I get to my mom’s house afterwards…eeep!
.: posted by pam m 8:08 AM

Just have enough time to say…new PB! New PB! (wait…or is it PR? Record or Best? Hmmm…never mind!) Anyway, finished the race in 37:01! A new record! Yay Pam! Will write complete race report later….
.: posted by pam m 1:06 PM

Okay, time for a race report. 🙂

Chinese New Year Festival 5K – Metairie, Louisiana

So the race was to start at 9:30 a.m. I was all nervous about going alone (see today’s earlier post) but left the house at 8:30 to get to the park around 9:00. I should have had time to pick up my t-shirt and bring it back to my car, since there would be no one to hold it for me. But when I got to the park, I had a really difficult time with parking. I was not familiar with the park, or the neighborhood, so I wasn’t sure where I could park (the residential area seemed unsafe) but after driving around for 20 minutes or so, I finally found a pretty close spot. By the time I got my shirt and number and used the restroom, it was 9:25. No time to bring the shirt back to my car, and nowhere to stash it. So I unpinned my number, put the t-shirt on over my other shirt, and repinned my number.

The gun went off. The walkers started a minute after the runners. Not long after I got past the start line, I was passed by pretty much all of the runners that were behind me. Ah well. I wanted to go at a slow pace, no big deal. A few minutes later, I was passed by some racewalkers. That didn’t bother me either. It was a pretty warm morning, especially considering my dress. I was wearing long pants (cool and mesh but still, long pants) and two cotton shirts. Ick! But I was okay at first. I hit the first mile split at 11:19. No way! I was convinced this was wrong. I didn’t feel like I was going much faster than normal. The second mile marker seemed to take forever. I got to it 12:53 later, proving that the first mile split was way too early.

Not long after the 2 mile split, I took off the t-shirt, and while running, repinned my number back to my sleeveless shirt. Much better! I had to carry the t-shirt the rest of the way, which was a pain, but at least I was cooler. There were several people who I kind of kept pace with the rest of the way. Most of them would run ahead of me, get out of breath, and then walk. I ran the whole way, which I felt good about. They reminded me of my first 5K that I ran waaaay too fast in the beginning and had to run and walk the rest of the way, feeling like I wanted to barf.

I finally was within sight of the turn off to the finish. Yay! I picked up the pace for the last 100 yards or so, and crossed the finish line in 37:01! The last 1.1 miles was 12:48! Yay! A great race, and I don’t think it took too much out of me for tomorrow’s 10 miler. We’ll see about that, I guess. Anyway, I got a great personal best, more than 2 minutes off my old one of 39:05 (which was the aforementioned first 5K). Yay! So on the way to Baton Rouge, after the race, I stopped at a book discount store and bought a few cheap hardcovers that I’ve been wanting to read as well as a little pasta cookbook.

Chris and I went shopping, too. We went to the Varsity Sports running store by LSU and we got some American flag socks to wear for the marathon. They’re dorky, but whatever! We have to advertise our American-ness so we get credit for flying over to run. I think we should get credit for that, right? We also got some Coolmax t-shirts I’m going to decorate for the Mardi Gras half marathon. Woo!