back cove 5k series

last night was race #5 in the back cove 5k series, but was only the second time i made it out (well technically the third, but the first week we had to cut it short at half a mile due to a screaming henry and had a DNF. no big deal). two weeks ago i went 29:55 with a goal of sub 30 (close!) and i walked a few times (ill cut myself a little slack, it was just 3 weeks after delivery). last week i had plans to go to the race but ty wasnt able to get out of work on time. im not too upset... the series (14 races) was just $20 so its ok if i miss some here and there. 

about two hours before the race yesterday there were torrential downpours and thunder. as the race time crept closer i kept checking facebook to see whether the race would be cancelled. kristal texted me to see if i had heard anything, which i hadnt. i asked if she was going to go if they didnt cancel it and she said yes, so i got ready and headed out on my way. the rain had settled down a bit and the humidity and temp broke so it was down to about 60 degrees which felt great! i met up with kristal before heading to the start so we could take our pic...

clearly a huge camera fail for me
(and a win for kristal wearing my sweet smuttynose jacket!)

we hid from the spitting rain under a tree discussing plans for a long run this weekend and our fall half marathon plans, while also questioning why we do these things. the crowd was significantly less than the other week i had gone and we all took off. i immediately could tell that i felt much better than i have in previous runs (i had run 2 miles yesterday morning and felt awful, just tight and sluggish... must have helped to loosen things up before the race). with my plan of hopefully not walking i kept things at a moderate pace, but pushed it a little more than usual. the course is a mostly flat gravel path with a small hill at mile 2, a bridge sidewalk, then a downhill to flat path back to the end. i slowed significantly to get up the hill but pushed it on the downhill and ended up picking off a few people towards the end. i didnt wear my watch but figured without walking and feeling how i did, i knew i would come in under what i had done two weeks ago.

photo courtesy of maine running photos

i was pleasantly surprised when i crossed the finish line and heard the timer say "27:11". woo hoo! i do believe that is a sub 9 min pace. ill take it! i came in 83rd out of 120 runners, an improvement from the last race where i was 153rd out of 191. im happy with the progress im making, despite not really doing any speed work of sorts... just getting out there, running more, and gaining back the muscle ive lost over the past few months. oh, and all the hills that sarah is forcing me to run obviously helps :) i think i am going to take it easy at next wednesdays race (if i make it there of course) because ill be running the ll bean 10k the following morning, and right now my legs are definitely feeling it from last night. compression socks are my friend today!