[photopress:bellaire.gif,thumb,alignleft] Location: City of Bellaire
Date: Saturday morning
Distance: 3.1 miles
Chip Time: 31:30
Mile 1: 10:03
Mile 2: 10:11
Mile 3: 10:17
Mile .1: 00:57
Avg/Max HR: 185/203

Yay!! It’s been a while since I last PR’d, and my only goal for Saturday’s race was to put last week’s horrible 5k time behind me. At 36:23, Yuri’s Night was my 2nd worst 5K time ever, and I felt frustrated and disappointed in myself about it all week….so I’m happy I ran a good race both mentally and physically. My finish time was a minute faster than my previous PR of 32:33 at the Rocket’s Run in January. It’s funny how minutes and seconds in a race carry so much more weight than minutes and seconds in any other part of the day.

Arrived at Bellaire and S Rice around 7:20am. A cold front had come in overnight, so it was pretty chilly (my favorite running weather) and windy. Chatted a bit with Jessica, June, Joe and Steve before the race. At 7:55am, we situated ourselves at the starting line and at 8:00am, we were off.

Mile 1:
It took a few minutes to fall into a steady rhythm with my legs and my breathing, but by the time I reached the first mile marker, I was feeling pretty good. I recorded the split and checked my watch - 10:03! An unusually fast mile for me.

Mile 2:
I grabbed some water as I ran past the water table. I must have been dehydrated because two quick gulps gave me an energy boost[note to self - drink more water during the day]. A woman at the second mile marker held a sign that said, “Don’t be blue - it’s Mile 2″. heh. After seeing that my second split was 10:11, I started wondering if I might actually be able to PR…

Mile 3:
Mile 3 was tough. I started fighting an overwhelming urge to slow down and walk, so I took slower and deeper breaths. Looping back to S Rice Ave restored some motivation and energy though, since I knew it meant only a few more blocks to go. For that, I have the hand drawn course map included in our race packets to thank - I don’t think the streets were drawn to scale and made the last stretch look really short. Imagining this really helped me finish out the 3rd mile.

Mile .1:
I finished mile 3 at 30:31 and realized a new PR was definitely possibile. I took a deep breath and sprinted the last .1 mile. How sweet was the sound of that ‘beep’ as the finish mat recorded my chip! Immediately after finishing, I felt extremely nauseous and had to concentrate verrrry hard on not throwing up on the guy removing my chip (yuk)…..but it passed after a minute, and I returned to my mini-celebration over my new PR. yay!

Post Race Party:
There were some rockin’ post-race goodies. Hamburgers (yes, hamburgers) from Prince’s which were offered in small White Castle-like sizes, Chick-Fil-A sandwiches, ice cream, pizza, muffins and the obligatory banana/orange combos. Most random were the pasta cups handed out by Hooters. I grabbed some oranges, stocked up on Cliff bars and a can of disgusting 180 Energy Drink by Budweiser. I love how I never have to actually buy Cliff bars, since they’re everywhere at these post-race parties.

Turns out the race was good for lots of people - June, Jessica and Joe also made PRs! And Steve finished in an insanely fast PR of 22 minutes. Hello.

After stocking up on goodies, I went home for a quick shower before heading down to Clear Lake with my sister. We’re part of a team in the upcoming Houston Dragonboat Race (May 6th), and had rowing practice at noon.