Brambleton Step-Sisters Ribbon Run 5k

Today was the Brambleton Step-Sisters Ribbon Run 5k. My husband and I both ran. He was kind enough to not hold me back with him, so that I could try to PR. My training has been completely different than it was before my injury, so I was really hoping that I'd be able to just run a good, and clean, race.

At 7:25, they did the National Anthem. I have a love/hate relationship with races starting this way. I love it because I think it's a wonderful thing... I hate it because for some reason, the National Anthem makes me emotional. Could be the fact that my parents were both military. Who knows. The teenage girl who sang it was really good.

At 7:30, we were off! I got to a comfortable pace within 3 minutes and stayed there most of the race. The first mile, I ran a 8:40. The second mile was an 8:34. The third was an 8:42. The last .1, I ran in 1:09 (an 8:01 pace). Total time was 27:07 (watch and official timing). I broke my previous PR by about 5 minutes. My main goal was to be under 30 minutes and I did it! I was so proud of myself!

My husband's goal was to be 35 minutes or better - he came in at 32:30. I'm so proud of him as well.

I placed 109th overall (out of 785) and 10th in my age group (out of 144) with an overall pace of 8:44/mile. Great way to start race season!