Tall Mom Virtual Race for the Cure 5K recap ...

When Mel announced that she was going to be hosting a series of virtual races in an effort to help her reach her fundraising goal, I knew I was in. She has inspired me so much over the past few months that I knew a donation was the least I could do in return. But, being the thrifty (read: cheap) person that I am, I wanted to get the most race for my money. So, I planned on running the half marathon option. But, then life got in the way and I downgraded to the 10K. I was bummed, but figured I could easily rock out a solid 10K, especially after last week's 50:36 10K run (which, in case you were wondering, is 2:41 faster than my current 10K PR).

So, it was the 10K. For sure. Until Friday morning. When I realized that there was no way I was going to be able to get in a FAST 10K (since I do not race for the fun of it) this weekend. There's a lot going on. A bunch of out of town guests. Parties. Food. It just wasn't going to fit into the schedule. So, I emailed Mel and dropped to the 5K. And can I just say that this was the BEST DECISION EVER?

Since I was squeezing in my run (and the weather sucked) I opted for the treadmill. Here I am right before jumping on.

I wanted to run 24:59, as one of my goals this year is to run a sub-25 minute 5K. Anything else would be icing on the cake. I knew I had to ease in if I wanted to maintain the pace that I needed to hit my goal time. So, I ran the first mile at an 8:00 pace. I was feeling good and decided to speed it up. The next mile clocked in at 7:51. At that point, I noticed that my ankle started to ache. I decided to muscle through and picked up the pace (partly to hit my goal and partly to be finished). With about half a mile left, my ankle suddenly felt fine. I think it was because I really had to focus on my form to keep the pace. Or maybe the pain just went away. I'm not sure. Anyway, the last mile was AWESOME. I completed the final 1.1 miles in 8:18 (7:32 pace). Sweet, right?

Add that all up and I finished in 24:09!! A 1:10 PR!! Not really sure that I can officially count it as a new PR, but I'm going to. Maybe I'll just put an asterisk next to it. Here's the proof ...

Overall, I am super pumped. See?

Sub 24 minute 5K, here I come!