So... 2 days ago (Thursday, the last day to register for the race) I decided to sign up for the Zoom through the Zoo 5k, part of the Corporate Shield race series. I hadn't thought much about whether to "race" it or just run it as a nice tempo 5k in the middle of typical longer Saturday miles, but after talking to a training buddy he encouraged me to go for it and offered to pace me, targeting a sub-21:30 (to beat my current PR of 21:32 from the Greenville News Run Downtown in 2014 😵!!!).
Got signed up for the earliest start time (6:30AM) and decided to see what would happen!
Having run this race before, I knew this was a tough course for a PR, so I would have to run smart in order to pull it off. There are some tight turns and a few challenging hills that make this otherwise flat course harder than expected.
The morning was a beautifully crisp 46F (perfection!) and so needed a longer warm-up with a couple of miles to get to the start area. Did a few strides and then lined up about 5 mins before the start. It was a relatively small wave of early birds for the first start time, maybe 20-30 people. They counted us down and we were off!
First ~2/3 mi starts off pretty flat and goes through Cleveland park on the road. I tried to use this time to settle into a consistent but fast pace, enough to bank a little time knowing worse hills were coming towards the end. Turning off of Woodland Way brought the first challenging climb - almost a full 1/3 mile of gradual uphill, but enough to take the energy right out of you. Finally towards the end of that hill we hit the first mile.
Mile 1 - 6:44
Starting second mile took us back through a mostly flat portion of the Swamp Rabbit Trail through Cleveland Park. I could tell the hill had taken some umph out of my stride, but I tried to stay consistent and keep the energy going. Some slight GI distress held me back a little bit, but stayed as strong as possible through the second mile.
Mile 2 - 6:56
Yep, definitely feeling the fatigue by this point and then came the second of three hills as we departed the road and headed up on the little side trails paralleling the road through Cleveland Park. Knowing this was the last climb before the last climb (lol) helped a little but man, I knew I had to save something for the final climb through the zoo. Held steady, definitely slowed a little coming into the zoo, and gave it all I had heading up the zoo hill. That one was hard, but knowing it was going to end soon and I could coast to the finish was what kept me going! Finally exited the zoo, awkwardly ran across the torn-up parking lot (kind of like gravel) to the final sprint to the finish line.
Mile 3 - 6:58
I still had enough for the final kick!!
Final Sprint - 5:38/mi
Watch Time - 20:51
My Garmin recorded 3.04 mi as the distance, but who knows how accurate that is...
Regardless, it's most certainly a PR and was good enough to earn 1st Place Overall Female in the race! 🥳
Of course I didn't have my phone with me and took zero photos, but man, what a race! I was pretty exhausted by the end, feeling the Jello legs, but not like I 100% depleted everything. I probably had some energy left to give, which makes me feel like this was a strong and smart race! Really proud of today's accomplishments!! 😁
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| Shiny New PR on the old Garmin! |
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