Brian Kraft Memorial 5K 2024 – Race Recap

YEAH!! A race that finally came together for me!

I knew if I kept at it, I would eventually have a race that showed my actual fitness, and it happened on Memorial Day at the Brian Kraft 5K.

This was my first time doing this race, but I knew it attracted the best of the best in the metro area. I was (mostly) excited to run a flat 5K (literally no elevation) with a lot of fast people. I just didn’t know where my fitness was. I was thinking I could run a pace of 6:0X-something, and that proved to be right!

Usually I am quite nervous going into races, but oddly, I had very little nerves the night before and the morning of. Once I got to the start of the race and started warming up, then I started to get a little more nervous, but it wasn’t too bad. So strange! I spent about 45 minutes warming-up before the race. It was a perfect morning for running fast–cool (50*F), overcast, with a little drizzle that started as we were waiting in the start corral.

I changed into my super shoes with about 15 minutes to go, and I have to give a big shout-out to the New Balance SC Elite v4. I liked the version 3, but the version 4 is the *chef’s kiss.* They were so good: light, fast, and so comfortable to wear. PLUS, for the first time ever, I was not sore the next day, nor did my toenails hurt from all the pounding in my shoes. I’ve NEVER had that happen before! TBD if I can wear them for a longer race because they have given me a blister on some mid-distance training runs.

When the race started, I knew the start would be congested, and it definitely was. I am not sure what my pace was starting out because I just had to go based off the crowd’s pace and not mine. After about 1000 meters into the race, I felt like I was holding back on my stride and pace, so I had to do a little weaving to get out of the box I was in–definitely not ideal since it added distance to my race.

As soon as I was able to open up my stride, I felt so much better and my watched beeped for mile 1 – 5:59. “Awesome!” I thought. And that did not feel out of my ability right now. I latched onto my friend Suzie during mile two. I wish we could train together, but we live too far apart, but we are always near each other in races we do together. She definitely pulled me along as we neared the start of mile three. My watch beeped for mile two – 6:00. “Yes!” Love consistent splits.

At mile three, the wheels started to fall off, and I started to lose contact with Suzie. I periodically looked down at my watch and saw paces more around 6:05/6:07, and I knew my pace was starting to slip. I did my best to keep grinding, but my really labored breathing was starting to kick in, and I know that once that hits, I am at my limit.

The last 1000 meters or so was when I was really wanting to see the finish line. Call me crazy, but I like 5Ks–as soon as the hurt starts, the race is over. Ha! When I saw a 5:59 and 6:00 split earlier in the race, I thought I might be able to be around 18:45, but mile 3 ended up being 6:07, and then that last tenth of a mile adds more time than you think it will. The last 0.13 mile on my watch was a 5:58 min/mi pace, so my pace really didn’t slip that much, but I did have a couple other women pass me right at the end.

I ended up crossing the finish is 18:54 (18:59 gun time), which initially I was a little bummed that my time wasn’t faster, but honestly I just wanted to be under 19 minutes.

Craig and the boys were able to come and watch me run, and I swear I always do better when they’re there. Despite that picture of Cullen, the boys had fun, and I think they like coming to my races. Luckily there was a playground right in the area that they played on while I did my cool-down miles. I finished right as it started to rain, so we headed to get Swedish waffles at a little cafe in the area.