I heart this race.
The reason being is because it was my first ever 5k a couple years ago. •Check out my recap here• I also ran it last year. •Check that out here• And now in its 3rd year, I’m running it again. It has such a special place in my heart.
The morning started off as any normal pre-race morning begins. Breakfast was half a bagel with yogurt (blueblerry chobani! yum!) and a banana. The race began at 8am, but we wanted to get there early enough to grab our chip times (YES! It was chip timed this year, remember that was only complaint from last year?) and get to chit chat with everyone.
I got to meet the absolutely adorable Meredith from May Ray in The City, this was her first 5k! YEA!! (Hi Meredith!)
I had so much fun chatting it up with Meredith! I can’t wait till our blogger meet up (deets coming soon, promise ya’ll!).
And of course in typical Team Giles style, I had to take plenty of before pictures…
twinkies! We dressed alike… not on purpose!
The race began with a flash bang! Only way to do it in Tomball, I guess. 
Mile 1 – To me the first mile is all about getting my groove down. I keep saying to myself “stay consistent, don’t go all out, watch your pace, who cares if they pass you, don’t over do it.” through the whole first mile. The mile flew by! The weather was nice and breezy and I felt good.
Mile 2 – Feeling good through the first part of mile two. Now passing all those speedys who ran passed me in the first mile, which feels pretty awesome might I just say. I really kept trying to stay consistent with my pace, I had a goal I wanted to meet. I knew I could beat my time from my last 5K. I had to watch my pace and not slow down. I kept saying “Give it your all!” I passed the water stations and skipped on water, I did that the last two 5k’s and PR’d. I felt plenty hydrated and knew that mile 3 was coming up soon.
Mile 3 – Somewhere before mile 3, it happened again… no matter what race I’ve ran, once I get towards the middle/end, in my head I’m saying “OMG! Is this OVER?! I hate this junk, why do I do this? So. Over. This.” I kid you not. Every dang time. I sucked it up, got over my insanity and kept pushing through. Then my Garmin beeped its wonderful beep at me and said that 3 miles had been completed. The police officers cheered “You’re almost there, great job!” I see it, the finish line is merely .2 miles away. I looked at my Garmin, and I immediately thought “I’m going to make it!” I picked up the pace and all out sprinted my heart out till the end. The amazing that that happened was the police and cyclist started cheering for me “Whoa! Pickin’ up the pace! Go girl! Look at her go!” is what I heard from behind me. An extra push to finish strong!
FINISH LINE!!
I did it! I got a new PERSONAL RECORD!!! I’M ON FIRE!!!!
I wanted to scream, but first I wanted to throw up. So I had to walk it out and then kindly let the lady take the chip time off my shoes. Thankfully my lil’sis (WHO IS AMAZING YA’LL! more on that in a second) came running with a Gatorade. It never tasted so good.
My last 5k, I ran in 40:08. This 5k, I ran in 39:23!!! AHH!!! WHO AM I!?
My Garmin stats:
It felt good to finally get under the 40′s. I know that I can improve my time. I just have to stay consistent with it. What do you do to improve speed? I’d love to be averaging a 10:00 pace. That would be nice!
Now, let me tell you about this girl…
My lil’sis is purely amazing.
Her last 5k, she ran it in 33:25. THIS 5k she finished in 29:00!!!!! HOLY BANANAS!! I am so proud of her! Amazing! Amazing! Amazing! I wanna be like her when I grow up.
Once we all had some h2O in us, we went to the official finished times and checked out how everyone did. Lil’sister’s boyfriend finished first in his age group!!! Way to go T! And yes… this was his first 5k. Crazy!
Hubs and I went to have some brunch at Hubbell & Hudson Kitchen… it was nice and quiet…
I had a create-your-own-omelette. So good. So very good.
The rest of the day Hubs napped and I spent some time in the backyard with my pup, doing this…
rest.
It was a fabulous day.
and just for kicks… I thought I’d show you this…
So here’s whats coming up next Saturday… another 5k. And this time, I’m starting to get nervous. What if I can’t better my time? What if I do worse? I don’t think I’ve ever done back-to-back 5k’s before. Can I run a really great race? There’s also going to be a lot of people I know there… what if I’m last?! Yes, I know, you’re probably thinking “Lauren, really have you lost your mind?” and yes, there’s a part of me that thinks I just might be losing my mind. What do you think? Have you ever had major pre-race jitters? What do you do about it? What helps you?
QUESTION FOR THE DAY: What’s your favorite Frozen Yogurt flavor? I totally was craving some on Saturday and got to try out a new flavor: Raspberry Lemonade. SO. GOOD.
Who’s saying what?