The pain, oh, THE PAIN!
I only thought I was going to die the last 10K or so of the marathon. I thought I was going to die EVERY LAST SECOND of the 5K I ran on Saturday. Beautiful cool night, low humidity - a huge contrast to last year when it was 28 C at 9 pm with humidity so high you needed to chew every breath.
The worst thing about this race is that there is no chip time, it's a big enough race to warrant paying for an extra mat at the start line! So Beth and I lined up in the 2nd or 3rd row and prayed we wouldn't get stampeded.
It was so dark that I couldn't see my pace on my Garmin and I didn't want to waste time fiddling with the backlight so I just ran like hell!
It was the closest I've ever come to puking at the finish line. I coughed so hard that I could taste blood! I was so wiped I spent most of yesterday napping and being a vegetable. If someone had told me 2 years ago that a 5K would kick my ass more than a marathon, I would be so dumbfounded that I wouldn't even be able to laugh.
Last year's official gun time: 28:11 (old PR - watch time 27:44)
This year's official gun time: 25:43
Field Placement: 193 / 700 (27.6%)
Age group: 30 – 34
Group Placement: 7 / 71 (9.9%) - HIGHEST PLACEMENT EVER!
Gender Placement: 60 / 430 (14%)
