What a Rush - PR 5km!!

Today was the official kick off to my 2011 Race Season, and a sort of come back in ways :) The event was the Arts and Sciences 5km Running race, which was held in beautiful Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, CA. The race began at 9am and was a single loop of rolling terrain.

5km Race Map

Start Line at the Conservatory of Flowers

I awoke this morning to POURING rain. I mean, it was a terrential down pour. However, I was committed to the race, and was planning on running even if the event were cancelled. I really needed to put a race effort out there, and get in some good training as this is part of my race plan for the year.

Got to the race site, and the rain had died down to a drizzle, and by the time the race started, there was no more rain.

The race started, and was very competitive as most races anywhere in California are. My plan was to negative split the race, putting in a good effort for the first half and then just see what I could do after that.

The race went as planned, and I was cruising along at a comfortably uncomfortable pace, which then seemed to turn into a painful effort at about 2 miles.....I was a bit concerned at this point that I may fall off the pace. However, there was a fellow Canadian girl named Leanne, whom I met prior to the race start, and she pulled up beside me and told me to "keep up". So I did as much as I could. She every so slowly inched her way ahead of me, but I kept trying to chase her. This is positive for me, as I mentally committed to the challenge, and didn't let go when things got tough.

De Young Museum at 2 miles

Stow Lake at 2.5 miles

I knew where the finish line was, and with about 500m to go I really had to dig deep as there was a group of 3 guys trying to chase me down. I could hear them breathing right down my neck, and was more motivated than ever to NOT let anyone pass me at the finish! I was able to turn on the afterburners, and was able to outsprint those guys by the narrowest of margins :)

The finish shoot was very narrow, and with the group of us finishing right at the same time, there was alot of commotion, and some minor collisions. We all had a good laugh over it, and it was one of the most exciting race finishes ever for me.

I was able to post a time of 19minutes and 38 seconds, which is a PR for a 5km for me. YES!!!!

RESULTS: http://dserunners.com/results/2011/artsandsciences5k.html

Moving forward on a really great note, my next race will be the Embarcadero 10km running race on Feb 27.

Train safe and well :)

Stephen