SCAVMA Scamper 5k

Yesterday I participated in my second 5k of the season.  It was a chilly (like 45 degrees) overcast, windy morning.  The winds were around 20mph.  This race is put on by the vet med students at ISU.  You are encouraged to bring your dogs to run but of course Cinder wouldn't have made it a 1/2 miles so I ran by myself.  I asked John if he wanted to come and watch and bring Elsie.  She is absolutely in love with doggies these days and I thought she would enjoy seeing them.  I think she was a bit overwhelmed by how many there were.  Even in the pic below we couldn't get her to look at the camera because she kept looking all over at the dogs.  There were dogs of every size there!  It was fun!

The run went really well.  I had set a goal to run it under 10 min/miles and my mission was accomplished.  My reported results were 30 min 30 seconds so 9 min 50 sec/mile.  I am pleased with that.  My last 5k that I ran in February I ran it in 33:46.  So that is over a 3 minute improvement.   I am not sure if that is really as accurate as I think :).  I used my phone/Map My Run App.  I wanted to  know how far I ran/how far I had left to go because I was unfamiliar with my route.  I thought I started it when I cross the start line but didn't.  I looked at it a couple minutes in and realized I never hit the start button :(.  According to my phone for the 2.84 miles it recorded my pace was 9:36 min/miles.  My first mile was my fastest which I could tell because I was running down hill with the wind at my back 9:19 min/mile and my last mile was my worst at 9:41.  Normally when I run my second mile is my slowest because I totally kick in into gear the last .5 mile as I near the finish but yesterday the last .5 mile I was running directly into the wind at an incline.  Ugh I struggled.  So I figure if my worst mile was 9:41 my overall pace would have to be faster than 9:50.  So anyways....I think my pace was faster than the official time but that is okay.  We will go with 9:50 min/mile.

My next one that I am registered for is in June.  I think my goal will be to run it under 30 minutes.  Maybe that isn't ambitious enough.  Maybe I should go with under 29 minutes.  I am hoping to run outside more...I enjoy it way more than the treadmill.  This week is looking up so we shall see.