Down By the Bay 5k (4.3.22)

I registered for the 5k and wanted to beat my old best time doing this which was in 2015. I did a goal pace run earlier in the week and needed 9:11. I realized the race was going long so then I was confused but thought I met my goal pace.  Well here I averaged 9:05 but the race was long so I did not meet my goal time.  Now I really feel like I need another race to redeem myself. The last time I did this race I did in 36 min and the time before 31 but I wanted in the 28s like when I ran it in 2015. 
My original goal was 28:51; my personal best on this course. Then I just wanted to beat my personal best in California so that was 28:20. 27:48 was actually a best since having kids but that was a PA race and I believe it was slightly short. 

My official time was 29:10 for this race.  I came in 6th in my age group. If I was 2 years older, I'd have been first in my age group. They only gave awards for top finisher in each age group and the age group spanned 10 years not 5 like some races. 

Good 

The Tot Trot was a good warmup. Maybe not good enough but still nice. 

I was so busy that I barely had time to be nervous. I only got nervous right at the start line.

Bad

The race turnaround was wrong and the race was long.

We were running late and I was stressed.  

There is no shade at all and the race starts later than most races so it's extra warm by the time of the 5k. 

What to learn from it 

The day before I was way too busy and wore shoes that weren't my standard shoes. My feet hate anything that's not my sneaker. My feet hurt a lot. I won't schedule family photos the day before again! I also won't get minimal sleep because of yearbook deadlines. Next time when I'm figuring out my goal time I'm going to plan for a 3.2 mi race not 3.1 so then hopefully I beat it instead of being super mad. 

I wrote everything above the week of the race, which was 1.5 months ago. I was hoping that there would be race photos that I'm in but of course I'm not in a single race photo. I passed a few volunteer photographers and they'd always have their camera down like they didn't care about 5k racers that weren't fast or something 

I was annoyed my family didn't see me come into the finish like they have in the past. They also have taken photos in the past but they didn't. Luckily my friend saw me at the finish so she immediately took out her phone and said to let her get a photo. I didn't even have to ask her!

Prior to the race, I ran into someone I ran with about 8 years ago. Her goal was about 30 minutes. She beat me by over a minute! 

I switched up how I ran this race. I did Stride Repeats so I got extra fast for 20 second bursts but in that time I didn't walk any of the recovery and was jogging it. The lack of walk breaks definitely make me feel more dead. 

 

I was a little slow stopping the device but this one has mile splits

The turnaround. The yellow is where we turned around previous times I ran it.

I feel like I have not had a good year for races. First I register for a half and then have surgery so change it to a 10k. Next race, I was a little late and forgot energize. Third race I sprained my ankle days before and change to a shorter distance and took it nice and slow! Fourth race was this one where I was mad I didn't hit my goal time!