O'Niantic 2013

This past Saturday was my second official running 5K (the first being at the Hartford Marathon last October) - the O'Niantic 2013 5K. I have been excited for this one since January when I started up my training for the half marathon I'll be doing this October in Hartford, CT. And what better way to start the running season by doing an event that's right next door to my home town. And the coolest part: I got to wear all green! Yup. It was a St Paddy's Day race. Friday I went and picked up my race bib and got good ol' number 87, which is my good luck number.*


So the race started a little before 10am and there were over 800 people there. I was ready to go at 9am. I wanted to run. The day before I ran 7 miles in an hour and five minutes and I wanted to get in this last 3.1 miles before the weekend was up. 10 miles in two days doesn't seem too weird, does it? I didn't think so. Once everyone began running, it was like the last race I did: everyone just bunched up together until people started breaking out. I had to get past people that were going too slow/walking for my enjoyment. I know my pace and that definitely was not it. The nice part about this course was the whole thing was flat. Very, very enjoyable since I've been running hills for the past three months during training.

When I hit about 1 mile, I already saw the person in the lead heading back to finish the race. Yea, about 10 minutes in someone already had done 2 miles. Good for him. Found out he finished the race 16:06. I'd be dead if I did that. I hit the 2.5/2.75 mile mark and started booking it into the next gear. I've been practicing a lot to try and cut my time down by speeding up towards the end of a run. It's been going well for me so far so I decided to do it again. About the 3 mile mark, I saw my dad and could hear him say "You're under 27 minutes. Hurry the fuck up." I love my dad. I don't know where I got the extra energy from but it was there and I turned it to 11. I crossed the line and saw my time.

26:23.

I honestly could not believe it. My last 5K had a time of 28:02. Granted there were no hills in this one and hills definitely slow me down but I'm super pleased with my time. I got hugs and kisses from the girl and high fives from the parents. My day was complete, especially when I was handed my prize for finishing.

Yes, I won a pint glass.
*Note: I never really had a lucky number in my lifetime. I just thought it was pretty cool that my race bib was below 100 for a number. And I honestly don't believe in lucky numbers but probably should after all of this.

Also, I finally realized I'm losing weight when I first saw these pics. Go figure.