This July 4th weekend, we headed downtown for the Firecracker 5K. Congratulations to everyone else who took part, I hope you all achieved your goals. Even though I had completed two other 5K events this year (DXA2 and the Motor City Triathlon as part of a sprint relay team), I had not managed to run the entire 5K distance (3.1 miles) since the Big House Big Heart run in October 2009*, so I had that goal in mind.
The weather was cool and breezy and the course was the same as last year, nice and flat and taking in some of the best parts of downtown Ann Arbor. With coffee helping to keep my eyes open (I'm not fully functional in the morning, especially on holiday weekends), I pinned my bib on, stretched and found my pace marker in the crowd (around 12 minutes†, I was hoping).
After setting out a tad fast it was beginning to feel like I had scuppered my chances of finishing without stopping for a lovely stroll. However, with Cardiotrainer's robot voice giving me pace and distance information over the top of my music (streaming on my phone via the fantastic Audiogalaxy) I was able to focus on my goal and just over 30 minutes later, I was insanely sprinting over the finish line.
My time was 34:01.3, a personal best beating my 2009 Big House Big Heart time of 35:54.6 and my 2011 DXA2 time of 37:39.0 (it also totally blows away my time from last year's Firecracker 5K, 46:50.1). My next goal is to break 30 minutes; when and where that will be I don't yet know.
* I injured myself playing soccer with delusions of skill
† Also know as "somewhere near the back"