My First Race Experience

During our training for our race in October, The Mackinac Island Great Turtle Run, we’ve been planning on doing at least one warmup race. As you know from my last few postings that first race for me occurred today in the form of a 5k.

Last night I ate a good meal of pasta & chicken and this morning I made some of my trusty peanut protein oatmeal. It consists of 1/2 a cup of oats, 1 scoop of protein powder, and 3/4 cup of water microwaved for 2 minutes and then mix in 1 tablespoon of natural peanut butter. After starting the morning with that I grabbed a quick double shot of espresso en-route to the race.

I also tried to get plenty of water all day Saturday and Sunday morning but not so much that I had to use the restroom. I was a bit nervous Sunday morning and felt like I had to use the restroom all morning though I usually didn’t … kinda weird nervous jitters I guess?

One of my goals going into this race, my first in case I hadn’t mentioned it before, was to run the entire race. My second goal was to finish in < 30 minutes.

This is picture my wife Amy near the starting line of the race. I was really nervous at the start but everything including the weather was in our favor this morning. It was in the mid fifties, overcast, and with not much wind … plus we both felt great, double win!

When the race started I got really worried that I was over exerting myself because I was passing so many people. My Nike+ GPS was telling me that my pace was right near where I wanted it, around a 9 minute mile. I guess adrenaline was on my side … that and we didn’t really worry too much about our starting position so we were towards the back of the 5k field which meant passing.

One of the cool things about this route was that at the halfway point you double backed on the other side of the road in the other lane. It was kinda cool seeing all of the people passing by supporting each other. It also made the second half go a lot faster since I wasn’t focused on pace, time, or position … I just ran.

I felt great for most of the race, my pace was solid and except for choking on some water for a second I was doing awesome. Then at about 2.6 miles I had trouble breathing … no nothing bad, just had trouble catching my breath for a second which threw me off. I then made the decision, after beating myself up for a second, to walk. I told myself only 20 seconds, and that was all I did, but it helped a ton. After I took my time I picked back up where I left off at my ~9 minute mile pace.

I ended up crossing the finish line with a time of 27 minutes 51 seconds (according to my Nike+) with an average pace of 8′ 52″ per mile. Amy finished with a time of 36 minutes plus or minus a few seconds. The official times haven’t been posted yet but I can’t imagine we’re off by too much.

Needless to say I’m overjoyed with this time, it’s a new personal best time for me in a 5k (official and unofficial from my training). I’m a bit bummed that I didn’t run the entire race but in the end walking for 20 seconds isn’t bad and it’s what enabled me to finish with the great time. I couldn’t have asked for a better first race experience.

How was your first race experience?

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