Carlsbad 5000 Race Report..

Albeit this is a week late...but, better late than never right? I think I have a hard time blogging these days because I think all my blog posts need to be "long," and I feel pressure to write, so i'm just going to try and keep things short and to the point!

Dave and I were super stoked because the Carlsbad 5000 has a staggered start, so Dave would run, he'd have some time and then I would run so that gave us plenty of time for the "Soren hand off." AND the starts were super late (9:25/10:25) so no getting up early and messing up everyone's sleep schedule!  The cards were in our favor.  PLUS:  It was Dave's first race in over a year due to a leg injury, so he was curious to see how his speed would pan out.  Man oh man, i'd give anything for his "slow" speed on my best day...more about that in a minute.

We get up to Carlsbad with plenty of time to spare, met up with Marit and Erin..Erin's husband was gracious enough to put himself on call for the day at the hospital so Dave took his place (props to Mike Kent...THANKS MIKE!), we got our numbers and it was quickly time for Dave to line up.   Marit was super awesome to come out and support us after she and Nate had a grueling hike the day before and left them both wishing for a new set of legs!!  Thanks Marit!

During Dave's I had to feed Soren, so I sent Marit over to watch for Dave and he finished in 21:13...yes, people, that's what, a 6:50 mile....with ZERO training, other than a three mile loop a few times a week with multiple stops for stretching.  Kills me that he has this injury....he loves running!   Hoping that with some ART and stretching and new shoes, etc Dave will be able to run again regularly soon.  For now we just got him his first "real" swimsuit and goggles, so he's going to hit the pool for a while to see how that goes! Proud of him, hard to "switch" sports for even just a while when all you want to do is (enter favorite sport).

I actually had about 15 minutes to warm up.  I don't know what happens to me, happens to me before every race/triathlon.  I get worried that i'll be off warming up somewhere and i'll miss the start.  That's why, technically, I never warm up properly.  Seriously.  This race was no different.  Although, I spent a significant amount of time stretching my calves/hamstrings since it's been a while since i've gone "hard."  I've had some speed work in my training, but no track workouts and it's been a chunk of tempo and distance runs.  I had no idea where this would leave me.  My 10k time at this point was around a 7:45-8:00, I didn't know what that meant for 5k....I would soon find out.

Amanda's instructions to me were basically "if you're not feeling like you want to puke, you're not going hard enough."  Easy enough right? I mean, how would I "run-hard enough-to-puke-but-not-puke-so-that-I-could-finish". 

I took a swig of EFS liquid shot .....this stuff is seriously like candy and gives me a boost!   First mile, not a problem, knocked out a 7:20.  Mile 2....I see a guy in all black, requisite "Nike" outfit (WHY does everyone where Nike even if maybe it's not the right shoe for them?).  Anyway--it was a WOMEN's division 30-39, but whatever, said guy was in my way....so, I tried to pass him on the left, he moved....kept moving, so then i'm literally running on the yellow road divider....I said under my breath "dude, there's plenty of room,"  he turns around and I kid you not, whipped his head and said "F* you B*".  I'm like seriously? I shouted "you're lucky you've got an iPod" on....I thought about what Dave would say he would tell me not to waste my energy that I had on this guy and put it into my run. I got *so* angry I wanted to trip him. I almost did, but unfortunately for me, fortunately for him, my parents raised me better......  Unfortunately, I couldn't blow past the guy, I wish I could write that I did....but I couldn't.....I still had a mile to go and I was already dizzy.

Nausea----not happening, Dizzy=check...I was doing something right?? Anyway, Mile 2 contains a slight uphill (screw you motto:  Carlsbad 5000, fastest 5K in the world..right).  And I was just pushing as hard as I could and I really didn't have anything left.  My goal was to finish in the "22's"....and I crossed the line at 23:14!  Around a 7:29 mile.  I can be proud.  I went as hard as I could, no regrets and that's what I did!  My PR for this race is a 22:03 I think, so i'm happy with how I did!  And, I broke in my new Pro Grid Triumph 7's.....they're a heavier shoe for a 5k, but I need to start breaking them in for Rock N Roll.....they're awesome!

Afterwards I seriously felt like I did a half marathon!  Amazing, if you go hard enough in a 5k, it feels like you've run further!  I slept super well that night! 

I'm currently now battling the stomach flu, on the verge of getting over it.....just ugh...I just had this a month ago....hoping to recover by Monday to at least get my long run in...we'll see!