Anchorage Mayor’s 5K – Race Recap

My exciting running-related news. . . .I’m back to working with my coach, Nichole!

I couldn’t be happier to have someone planning my workouts each day, having a purpose for these workouts, and a mastermind behind my plan.

Here’s more on why I love having a coach.

I had thought about running either the half marathon or the 5K for the Anchorage Mayor’s Marathon race series this past weekend. I had also considered not doing any of the races, but that’s what’s great about having a coach, this indecisive girl doesn’t have to decide, I just follow my coach’s orders. Nichole thought the 5K would fit well into the plan, so with less than a week until race day, I signed up for the Anchorage Mayor’s 5K.

I wasn’t quite as nervous come race morning as I can be. I wasn’t tapered for this race, and it wasn’t an ‘A’ race, but as always, I want to do well and try my best, so there was a little bit of anxiety.

After warming up for about 45 minutes, I was ready to go. Out of the gate, there were a couple of girls who started out a sub-6 minute pace, but I knew I didn’t have it in me to go out that fast, so I held back. The course starts by going down a pretty steep hill and then immediately back up another steep hill. Then it goes down another longer hill before flattening out for the next 1.5 miles. I used the downhill portions to try and gain some ground and occasionally checked my watch to see that I was staying at a good pace. (I was trying to hit a 6:15/6:20 pace.) I caught one of the girls in front of me before the half-way point turnaround and then passed the other one shortly after that. The last 0.75 mile or so has another steep uphill portion, followed by a steep downhill, and another hill that leads you into the chute. I’m convinced the race director did this on purpose. I actually feel worse for the marathons who have to run these hills at the end of their race.

My splits were okay but definitely not great.

Mile 1 – 6:21

Mile 2 – 6:28

Mile 0.89 – 6:01

My GPS distance: 2.89 miles

I know the course was short. I don’t think it was quite that short as my old Garmin watch always measures “long.” A couple of other people had closer to 2.95 miles, but that’s still pretty far off for 3.1 miles.

These are my official results. The short course makes my average time look really good, but I know I wasn’t running a 6:05 pace.

I am pretty bummed the course was short. It is what it is, but still kind of disappointing it would be off that much. Despite this, it was still a solid race effort, and it is fun to come away with a win.

We’ve got a few weeks of training before the Her Tern Half Marathon in July. It is my favorite race, and I am especially excited for this year’s race because my sister will be up here for it!! I think we’ll finally be able to run (and race) a race together. More often than not it seems like one of us is injured, but we’re both healthy so far!