Firecracker 5K Recap

This weekend part of my family ran the Firecracker 5K hosted by Big River Running Company in St. Louis. We had perfectly amazing weather it was 70-75 degrees and sunny for the whole race! I woke up on the 4th and was in so much pain in my stomach I almost didn't run. I was sure what the problem was but I was doubled over till the race started. I chose to run without my water which was not my smartest move, however I survived just fine. The exciting news about this race is that I got 2 PR's!!!!! Yep I ran my fastest mile ever and my fastest 5K ever!


Mile 1 was my PR mile! It clocked in at 10:45!!! Holy crap I was moving! When runkeeper chirped at 5:00 minutes and I was almost at .5 miles I decided in that second I was going to push it as long as I could and as fast as I could. It was a pace I knew I could never keep for the whole race so I hit my goal and slowed down a bit. My dad and I stayed together for the whole race...sometimes I think he pushes himself super hard to keep up the whole time to make himself better and stronger. Also mile 1 was pretty much a hill slow and steady that ended right around a water station.

Mile 2 I took a little slower and was decently flat. Dad and I chatted through most of this mile joking about the church on the corner about how we would need the good Lord to pull us through to the end. We also joked about needing the old person's home when we were finished, it was a good time. that ended with another water station. We took it as a run walk mile and averaged around 13:14 time.
Mile 3 was up hill and a loop back down to the baseball stadium. which was an easy trek up and back down. The cool part was that you finished the race running the bases and crossing home plate. The uncool part is that the last 0.1 mile was all in sand! Sand at the end is a cruel punishment and makes it tough to finish. However we finished mile 3 in 12:47. 

My goal for this 5K was to finish in sub 40:00 and I succeeded!!!! I finished this 5K in 39:44!!! That is roughly 2:00 faster than I have been getting! I was so excited I couldn't even contain myself! We sprinted the third base line to make it in time for the PR but I wanted it really bad and we were so close! I did learn that if I could PR with the way I felt then I maybe training to slow. So starting next week I will be picking up the pace as much as I can...aka bleacher days will also be speed run days...YIKES!

 

PreRace photo with my cousin and his wife. Looking right into the sun hence the squinting face! 

 PreRace photo with my dad.




                                                                                Post Race photo with my dad on the third base line.

All in all it was a great race and we had great weather. It was nice to run with the family even if we all run at different paces and finished at different times. We still got to hang out after, drink beer, eat a hotdog and talk about how it went for everyone. How did your race weekend go?

-Felicia