5K Knoxville Race Results and Thoughts

The Start of the race

Me at the start

Waiting in line for the bathroom

The crowd signing up for the race

Me after the race

Race was good in Knoxville my time was 25:24. I have to admit that I did have it in my head that I wanted to break 25, but hey I came close and I did cut almost a minute off since my last race in June and I have been distance training since then so like I said I’m real happy with the time. I did achieve my goals for this race. It was the highlight of my vacation and I wanted that something besides how much food I could eat as that seems to be how my past vacations have went. The second goal was to get the experience of a large crowd running in a race. I defiantly got that, but it was near as scary as I thought it would be. The race was very well organized and everything outside my control (registration process, bathrooms, finish, post race etc.) went real smooth and it’s evident that those putting on these larger races are good at it and do a great job. The thing I was control of, running the race was Ok I gained some experience. I did learn to avoid the urge to make up the time to quick from a slow start with that many people. I did go out to fast my first mile was 7:54 , that was too fast for me. My next two splits were 8:38 and 8:52. So see I got slower as the race went on. I don’t think that will be a problem in a marathon as there shouldn’t be any urge to take off fast, just to settle in at a good steady pace. I’m still not sure on my prerace hydration, I first thought I had had drank to much. I drank off and on all day probably close to my gallon a day I try to get. I stopped at around 5:30, but right up to the race start at 9:00 I was still peeing like a horse and the lines for the bathroom were about 15 minutes long. I think I ended up going three times between 7 and 9. My mouth got a little dry close to the end, but nothing major. Well let me wrap this up, the race was good, I was pleased and proud 7 months ago I weighed a hundred and five pounds more than I do now and couldn’t even run a hundred yards so yes I am proud of myself. Will I run it again next year? I’m not sure I’ll have to see first if we go back there on vacation and second what my goals are with my running next year and where I am at with it. Doing this today not tomorrow!