COL 5k Fun Run Recap:
I banditted this race. Why? The person who runs this race charges $45 (if you register early), doesn't guarantee you a shirt, no medal. no times/placements, and several years the turnaround was not marked.
I didn't count this as a race for the aforementioned reasons. My daughter's homeschool XC team ran as a group so I had to be there. I didn't bother tapering at all. As a matter of fact I ran 11 miles in the AM. I have been doing daily workouts this week. During my Sunday long run both of my shoulders were hurting. My legs felt fine, but during the fun run later in the day my legs felt tired and sore.
I don't know why I thought this but I believed I could still run fast during this run even with soreness and a long run in the morning. Given how poorly I ran, I am going to stop the 75 hard workouts AND the pushups until after Saturday's race.
Anyway, my intention was to run 8-8:15 pace. Sort of like a threshold or tempo (I don't really know the difference. First mile was 8:11 but I was slowing quickly bc we turned into the 40 mph wind. I followed the group and we all turned around at 1.55 miles but I couldn't help but notice it was randomly in the middle of the road where no turnaround marker existed. Given my previous experience at this race I was immediately concerned we had run too far. On the way back, they had us turn into the track and run a lap. As you enter the track, a female elf on a mic says... "once you finish this lap you'll be halfway there." A quick look at my watch showed 2.26 miles at this point. No lady, that math ain't mathing. I lost all desire to run and walked. I decided to just take in the lights. I don't know how far I walked but eventually I got impatient and jogged the rest of the way back. Pace up until that point was 8:34. Total distance on watch 3.69 miles (I stopped my watch during the walk)