Annapolis 5K

Yesterday was a women's only 5K sponsored by a running club in Annapolis. (There was a run for men afterwards.) Adrian, a friend of mine from my sailing club, had signed up for it and I joined in. It was very different from the TKPK5K - hot, humid, smaller, no headphones allowed.  Adrian is pretty much my only running friend at this point. She is a couple of years older than me, mostly retired, and lives a nomadic and very active and outdoor life, splitting her time between the sailboat and the camper trailer.

Bottom line: I did better than in the Takoma Park - I read the print out of race results, not available yet on-line, but I finished in 40:09 from the chip timer. (TKPK5K was 41:06.) Obviously I need to set a new goal of under 40 minutes from here on out.

I drank a lot of water in advance, and munched a bit of cheese on the drive over. Plus a couple of cups of coffee - so nice not to be seriously dependent on coffee, but it really helps.  Despite the brutally humid conditions, I decided not to carry water on the run - there were sure to be a couple of water stations if I needed it. In general, I'm inclined to follow a rule of anything less than an hour doesn't require water during it, and certainly not sugary fuel to keep going.

I wasn't sure what to wear, but ended up with some compression pants and a very loud wicking top. I got some new running shorts, but hadn't worn them in any workouts and was concerned they might have unexpected awkwardness like bunching up. Didn't seem the time to experiment.

Pre-race homage to Bitchcakes. I did put on shoes, of course. 

Pre-race jitters.

This women's only race was different from others I've been in. There were many more women our age, and as I jogged along, there were lots of women going more-or-less my speed.

I jogged most of the first mile, and from there on walked up hills and jogged most of the rest of the time. I kept the heart rate up and only had one break where it went down.

Many small hills - why did there seem more ups than downs even though we ended back and the starting point?

 We hung around for the awards, including the age-group awards. The top 3 in each age group - including 70-79 - beat my time. Only the sole 80+ runner had a time slightly worse than mine!  What a motivation to keep doing this!

BTW, my running friend just got Younger Next Year from the library - I told her about our friend Chris and that she should really love this book!

Post-race happiness. Note red face.