Dawg "Dash" 5K Race Report

Background - So I wasn't really planning on doing this race given that Portland was only two weeks ago and I had a 10 mile "long run" scheduled for this weekend. But DBF and two of his friends were running it, I was going to go cheer, and then decided I'd feel left out (and it was only $15!) so I decided to run it anyways. My legs were tired from yesterday's run (which ended up being hillier than planned) and we were up late late late (and drinking!) last night for the Husky game.

The Race - Dawg Dash is a literal term! People were allowed to bring their dogs and there were so many different kinds!!! (There were around 1500 people there, mostly in the 5K, so that's a lot of dogs!)

I had planned on starting out slowly, but I started fast and just tried to stay in a rhythm until around mile 2.

Mile 1 was flat and then uphill (and upstairs) with only a little bit of flat the rest of the mile. There were some logjams on the narrower uphill parts, which slowed us down a bit. Around 10ish for this mile and it still felt fast. *sigh*

Mile 2 was still uphill the whole way, and involved all the stairs on campus (well not all of the stairs on campus, but you know...). I pushed through it but my knee started tightening up a little bit once I hit the 2 mile mark at 21:03.

Mile 3 was mostly downhill back to the stadium and a lot of it was gravel, which was nice. My knee gave out a little running down the stairs back towards the stadium, but once we came around the corner and actually when into the stadium I sprinted the rest of the way to the finish (passing about 20 people). Maybe not the smartest idea but my friends and dbf were all there (already done!) and I was a little frustrated at how slow my time was for the effort. Final time 33:21. *sigh*

Reflections - So yes, I'm a little frustrated with my time - I feel like running that slowly shouldn't be pushing it at all - it's 40 seconds a mile slower than my half marathon PR! I'm trying to give myself a break because a) it was a hilly/stair-ey course, b) I was tired, and c) the marathon was only two weeks ago. It is good motivation to get more speedwork done though!