All I need is a track in the background

As part of my New Year's Resolutions, I present to you my...

Resolution Run Race Report
Date: January 1, 2004
Location: Round Rock, Texas

The race start was at 11AM. Normally races start around 7 or 8. Believe me... the morning after New Years Eve, it feels like 7 or 8! Before the race, Jay and I hung out in the activity center building where they had carpeted floors and real bathrooms. I took one ClifShot before the race and we had a casual warm up. It felt cool enough and breezy enough that I liked having my jacket on during the warmup, but as soon as I was warmed up, the jacket had to go!

I lined up closer to the starting line than usual because of all the kids who were up in front as well. Although the chip time makes it look like I was right on the line, I was a bit back. I'm not sure why Jay who was quite a bit ahead of me had a diff time of 2.7 and I had 0.0! I was asked by someone behind me what pace I ran 5Ks and then I told her that my 5K pace is slower than my 30K pace, so I didn't have a good estimate for her. She asked for my name and if I was on the forum. It turns out I met Bev as well as Calvin who was standing next to us. Saw dmit before the race, and then he said hello as he passed me early in the first mile. The race weather was cloudy and a little misty, and not too cold. I ran the first mile in 8:08 and was a little scared. The fastest mile I've ever run was 7:45!

I saw Jay running in the other direction near the end of the second mile. Hit that marker in 8:56. It was a common occurrence for many people to have the middle mile be slowest and the first fastest because it was about a mile of gradual downhill and a mile of gradual uphill.

In the third mile, I tried keeping up with two women who looked to be in my age group. One was pretty far ahead, but the second I thought I might be able to catch in the last mile. I increased my effort and passed her right before the 3 mile mark which I hit in 8:28. I kept going strong and cheered as Evil called out my name. Then just steps before the finish line, she passed me right up!!! I hauled ass to the finish line, but she still beat me by .05 of a second!! It turns out she was also 20 seconds behind the starting mat, so she beat me fair and square anyway. She was also 30, just barely out of my age group. During the awards, I found out the person ahead of her I was trying to catch up with was in her upper 40's. I would have had to run over 2 minutes faster to beat the age grouper ahead of me.

I finished with a PR of 26:26.15! My previous fastest time (and only sub-30 minute finish) was 27:39 at the Round Rock Express 5K. Bev finished about 10 seconds after me, so we seeded ourselves pretty well.

Post race food included bananas, oranges, water, and black-eyed peas. Nearly everyone stayed for the awards ceremony because they were giving out tons of really nice prizes. A $75 RunTex gift certificate, $20 restaurant gift certificates, etc. The awards were very unique medals made out of polished agates. Jay was sure I would get an age group award, but upon hearing the times of the 30-34 and 35-40 year old women, I knew I'd probably not get it. I was hoping that many of the 25-29 year old women (like most of my training buddies!) were at home recovering after a night of partying. I didn't get called for third place... but Jay did!! Later looking at the results, I was excited to learn I had placed fourth in my age group. Had I raced with the same results last year, I'd have gotten first!!! The competition was tougher this year.

This was a fantastic 5K race. Chip timed and the results were online by the time I got home. Great job Run-Far and Race Director RickeyDad! How spoiled are we Austin runners???

                                                        Over       Chip      Total
 Place    Name                    City             Age   all       Time       Time       Diff     
    1    Karen Harvey           Austin  TX         26     5     21:28.85   21:28.85   00:00.00   
    2    Tracey Lowe            Austin  TX         26    18     23:42.70   23:45.30   00:02.60   
    3    Nicole Staton                             25    20     24:17.20   24:25.15   00:07.95   
    4    Julia Weatherby        Austin  TX         27    32     26:26.15   26:26.15   00:00.00 

HR Data
Mile 1	8:08	178
Mile 2	8:56	174 - a little low because HRM had a low number for about a minute.
Mile 3	8:28	178

During minute 25, my HR briefly hit a nice high of 192. I'd only seen 191 as a high during previous hard workouts.


The first day of the year, and already a new PR. Pretty good start to the year!!!