Great Race Challenge (5K & 10K) 2021 Recap

These past two years have been incredibly challenging. Spring 2019, I was in the best shape of my life. In Summer 2019, I had some personal and professional traumas (if you know me, YOU KNOW) that meant that, while I kept running, I had to stop lifting for a long time. I was able to get back to a gym around mid October 2019 but then everyone knows what happened in February of 2020. I’ve managed to keep running, but I have definitely lost a lot of strength (and confidence). My virtual races have been slow and felt like a struggle. I’ve done… fine at the few in-person races I’ve done, but not amazing. So, when I signed up for the Great Race Challenge (5K at 8am and 10K at 9am), I was somehow both optimistic and had low expectations. I wanted the best! I thought it was possible! But I was really worried about letting myself down. I had a goal for the 5K: sub 24:03 so I could get the lower seed in the Manchester Road Race. It was about 20 seconds faster than my previous fastest 5K, so it was definitely a stretch.

I did it. Carrying ten bonus COVID and stress-induced pounds, I cut my 5K pace by 40 seconds. The race itself was almost a blur because I was just trying to go as fast as possible. I did 6min/30s run/walk intervals, which worked out ridiculously well. The one “hill” on this race is my least favorite part of the 10K and always my slowest mile… and it didn't disappoint on the 5K! It was my slowest mile by 1:20. When I finished, I wasn’t sure of my exact time, but I knew when I crossed that I was sub-24 and I grabbed my medal and then started crying. Unfortunately only for a couple of minutes because I had to get my ass to the bus to head back to the 10K start line.

Apparently, sitting on a bus for 15 minutes after going all out on a 5K is not great! I didn’t have high hopes at all for the 10K and got started pretty slow. I spent the time in the corral just trying to get my muscles to loosen up a bit. It worked well enough because, by some miracle, I also PR’d my 10K! Only by about 4 seconds, but still a surprise to me since my last fastest was the same race in 2019. It’s definitely given me some hope that all the slow miles I’ve put in over the past two years haven’t been for nothing! Also I have to shout out Monday Night Track with City of Bridges Run Club and my coach, Cat Bradley.

Distance	Time	Pace	Age Group Place (%)	Women Place (%)	Overall Place (%)
5K	23:44	7:37/mi	6/274 (2.2%)	39/811 (4.8%)	156/1445 (10.8%)
10K	53:09	8:33/mi	67/274 (24.4%)	345/1684 (20.5%)	1113/3410 (32.6%)

Great Race 10K Recap

Last year’s Great Race was hot and miserable. This year was actually great. I had done a hard squat workout on Friday (which was a TERRIBLE idea), so my quads were still really sore on Sunday. I decided I wanted to PR my 5K and try to get under 25 minutes. Which isn’t the best plan for a 10K! But it worked out! I ran as hard as I could during the first half, hit my goal, then had to walk for a bit because I was DYING. After a minute of recover, I started running again and was mostly able to keep it up. The fifth mile was definitely the hardest for me and then I was able to push harder at the end to PR both my 10K and 5K by about 30 seconds each. My official 10K time was 53:19 (8:34/mile) and my 5K time was 24:55 (8:00/mile). I was 92/464 in my division (top 20%), 540/2,974 women (top 18%), and 1,715/5,776 overall (top 30%).

Mile	Pace	GAP	Elev
1	7:56/mi	7:40/mi	12 ft
2	7:31/mi	7:52/mi	-145 ft
3	8:20/mi	8:20/mi	-13 ft
4	9:09/mi	9:28/mi	-103 ft
5	9:42/mi	9:08/mi	37 ft
6	8:15/mi	8:18/mi	-128 ft
0.32	7:08/mi	7:08/mi	-5 ft

The Great Race Recap - Possibly My Hottest 10K?

When I signed up for the Great Race, I did not imagine that it would be this hot in late September. Well... today has a high of 89 and yesterday, it was between 75 and 77 degrees Fahrenheit. The course was only about half shaded, so I ended up getting beat up by the heat pretty quickly. Admittedly, I started out a little bit too fast. But when I realized that I was on track for a 5K PR, I just decided to keep pushing it. It paid off and I finished the 5K in 25:13. If I had been running the 5K, it would've put me in the top 11% overall. I had to slow down a bit after that, but really not by too much! What really got me was mile 5. There was no shade, it had a bit of an uphill, and I was just spent. If it had been a bit cooler, I think I could've kept up my pace and finished two minutes faster overall. Next year! End result of the 10K was a finish time of 53:48 (pace of 8:39/mile). I finished top 18% in my division, top 14% of women, and top 25% overall. I was a bit bummed that I didn't hit my goal of 50 minutes, but I think I can do it next year!