TOTR: Regional Rehab 5k

Time for my favorite post of the week--Tuesday's on the Run! I decided I stick with the race recap theme since I ran another one this past weekend. So. Many. Races. Lately!

This past Saturday was one of my favorite races of the year. My town has a festival every summer and on the Saturday of the race, there's a big city wide yard sale so there are people EVERY WHERE! It's always motivating/fun to have people cheering you on. 

I'll be honest, waking up Saturday morning, I didn't feel the best. I didn't sleep well, my legs were tired, and I just felt groggy. I knew I'd probably have to race this one pretty hard in order to do well but I wasn't sure if I was up to it. 

Upon arriving for registration, I totally, TOTALLY psyched myself out. Big no-no. I looked at some of the other runners out there and mentally took myself out of the game pretty early on. I still have this mindset that I'm not that fast. Anyone else do this? 

The race was scheduled to start at 9am and I arrived somewhere around 8:15.. which gave me plenty of time to warm-up. But let's be honest, I'm a terrible runner and my warm-up generally consists of a couple of stretches, a trip to the bathroom, and yeah, that's about it. ha. I continued psyching myself out right up until the start of the race--maybe that's why I get so worked up over 5k's. 

Not feeling the best but let's do this. #race #run #runner #runhappy #runlikeagirl #runthisyear #instafit #instafitness #instarun #instarunner #igrun #igrunner #runnersofinstagram #likeagirl

A photo posted by Sarah Smith Carlson (@sarahc33) on Jun 20, 2015 at 5:47am PDT

The weather was decent on Saturday morning--a little hot but there was definitely rain around us. I got lucky during my run and didn't get poured on but a few people got DRENCHED.

The gun (okay, whistle) went off right at 9am and as soon as my feet started pounding the pavement, my adrenaline and competitive nature kicked in (thank God!) and it was go, go, GO for the rest of the race. I don't remember my exact splits but I know they were all pretty quick. The first mile absolutely flew by and before we knew it, mile 2 was up and it's the hilliest part of the race by far. Rolling hills. Blah.

Going into the second mile, I was the first female and probably 7th person overall at this point. There was a girl fairly close behind me (maybe 20 seconds?) and it was at that point that I made the decision to kick it into high gear and see what my legs could do. I wanted to win this race and defend my title (I won last year too).

I have to be honest, for as terrible as I felt before the race, I felt AMAZING during. My legs felt fresh, my breathing was good, I was pumped... I got lucky that everything just kind of fell into place. As mile 2 continued, I passed another 3-4 guys and found myself 3rd overall going into the final stretch. The guy in front of me was one of my good racing buddies and I knew if I just stuck near or around him, I'd be good to go.

Mile 3 was all downhill and I went for it. I made the decision that it was go big or go home and let's be honest.. I wasn't going home empty handed. I left it all out there and ended up finishing 3rd overall and first female and only missed my PR by a 1 (!) second.

Final time? 21:46.

It seriously still amazes me that when I first started running, I ran a 5k in 28+ minutes. Never in a million years did I ever, EVER think I'd get down to a sub 22 minute 5k. EVER!

First female across the line in 21:46.. One second off my PR! I'll take it! Added on an additional 5.20 for a total of 8 today. #marathontraining #run #runner #race #winner #runnersofinstagram #likeagirl #igrunner #igrun #instarunner #instarun #instafitness #instafit #runthisyear #runlikeagirl #fit #fitness #fitchick #ffcheckin #fitfluential #runrichmond #runhappy #training

A photo posted by Sarah Smith Carlson (@sarahc33) on Jun 20, 2015 at 8:58am PDT

Overall, I'm super happy with how this race turned out. Not really because I was first female but because I pushed through some mental blocks and felt strong throughout the race. I'll be the first to admit that 5k's aren't my favorite distance but I really enjoyed the race on Saturday.

Up next on my schedule? A a tough 10k on Saturday. I'm going to do my best to keep my mileage down this week so that my legs feel good but... we'll see what happens. ;)

Have a great Tuesday ya'll!

Sarah