Run Thru The Woods 5 Mile Race Report

I ran my very first 5 mile race in the Woodlands on Thanksgiving Day this year.

A cold front had blown through during the night, and the temperature had dropped approximately 40 degrees from the mid-80's to the mid-40's on race morning. This was frustrating because it was the first incidence of such a cold front this year, so I had no practice for what to wear and how such conditions would effect me. I finally decided on my under armour compression long-sleeved shirt with my new Target pull-over with built-in mittens on the top and my standard Old Navy shorts on bottom. I topped all of that with a stocking hat, sweatpants, my Nike jacket, and a sweatshirt for the ride over and the wait at the start line. Luckily I have a loving husband who wasn't running, so I was able to wait until just minutes before the start before I had to strip down to running gear and feel the cold.


I seeded myself about 2/3 of the way back in the crowd. WHen the gun finally went off, we all stood around for another minute or so, then began the slow stroll to the start. The pace picked up when we were almost there, and I started running.

I figure I seeded myself well because I was being passed about as much as I was passing people. It was actually pretty frustrating - by far the most tight race start I've ever experienced. I tried to just relax and go with the flow near the center where the fasters could get by me on the left and I could left-pass the slowers. There were plenty of both.

Going with the flow served me well the first mile - 9:33 (by my watch).

Unfortunately, that fast first mile freaked me out a little. I mean, I had 4 more to go, and I was running at near my best 5K pace. I pulled in the reins mentally, and soon was forcibly slowed when we were squeezed into one lane when the course went onto a 45 access road. Hit mile 2 at 21:30 (their clock - so probably about 20:10).

The next mile was really quite uneventful - hit the split at around 30:30 and proceeded into uncharted race territory. Fortunately the fourth mile went really well also. We hit the one and only big hill for the second time on the return trip over 45. It definitely seemed steeper in mile 4 than it did in mile 1!! One guy near me yelled out "Love the hill and it will love you!" I thought I'd go with that, knowing that I was almost to my final mile. People down on 45 were honking at us as we ran over the overpass. It was pretty cool.

Hit mile 4 at over 41 minutes, so that hill did slow me down some. Then I tried to pick up the pace a little bit, concentrate on my posture and the fact that I was almost there. I was a little out of breath from the hill, so I tried to get that under control.

Before I knew it, I was on what I thought was the home stretch. I had done really well at visualizing myself in the course map up to that point, and I think it really helped me mentally with running the unfamiliar course, but here I got it wrong. But I learned from the Dad's Day 5K in June, and even though I couldn't see the finish line, I knew I was really close, so I just kept running through it.

Finally I turned the corner and saw the finish line. Crossed in 52:50 by the clock. Forgot to stop my watch til my chip was off, stopped it at 52:18, so I was hoping I had pulled a sub 52 time, but I wasn't sure.

I did. 51:26 for a 10:17 min/mile pace. I achieved all but my most ambitious goal. I'm really pleased with this first 5 miler, but I can already see that if I hadn't psyched myself out about that fast first mile I may have had a shot at a sub-50. I can't wait to give this distance another try. Sooo... next up = the Jingle Bell 5 miler on December 9th.