Race Recap: Cure Cancer 8k

8k might be my new favorite distance! It’s just under 5 miles (4.97 I believe) so it’s a great workout, plus its “short” enough that you can push yourself to go pretty fast for most of the race. And, since it was my first 8k, it was an automatic PR! =)

But let’s rewind a bit…

The race start time was 7:30am, so I woke up at 6:15 and groaned a little bit but then got up. My goal was to leave by 6:45 and I had laid out most of my clothes the night before so that made it pretty easy because all I did was get dressed, eat, and go. I had a little bit bigger pre-race breakfast than usual.

I actually unpeeled the banana thinking I was out of bread, and then realized I had some bagel thin’s in the freezer. Rather than waste the banana, I ate it too! Almond butter and raisins on a whole wheat bagel thin, with the banana on the side spread with some extra almond butter. Yum.

Then I drove over to Georgetown and found a parking spot almost immediately. My friend Amber was running the race with me, so we found each other and then headed to the start area together.

The race itself was wayyyyyy smaller than I’m used to, and I really liked it!

There was only about 250 runners, so there weren’t long lines or lots of time before you could get to the race start. The weather was PERFECT, so I got to race in my Beth’s Journey shirt for the first time!!

And then, it was time to start! They divided the crowd up by bib numbers and did it in 3 waves, which made it nice because the trail was not crowded at all except in the first quarter mile or so. Amber and I decided to run the race separately and just meet up afterwards, so I took off! I felt really good for miles 1-3, but then around mile 4 my stomach started hurting a bit – probably because of the larger-than-normal breakfast. I put my arms over my head for a little bit and it passed, and then I plowed through to the end. Here’s the breakdown:

• Mile 1: 9:02
• Mile 2: 9:11
• Mile 3: 9:09
• Mile 4: 9:20
• Mile .87: 7:40 (8:38 pace)
• Total: 4.87 miles, 44:25

My only complaint was that the turn around point was not marked at all! They had said it was around the Mile 8 marker (the trail itself was marked), but all the runners (myself included) were very unclear where it was so that was a little annoying. Other than that, the race was great! I loved that it was small, low key, flat, and that I had run almost 5 miles before 8:30am!

Amber did really great too and I got to snap some pictures of her crossing the finish!

She was booking it at the end! Everyone who finished got a medal, which I also LOVED!

We hung around for the “awards ceremony” which was the race organizers handing out 2 t-shirts. I had more fun posing for cheesy pictures since I didn’t win a t-shirt.

When I got home, Wil said “You look like a professional!” Ha. Not quite, but I appreciate the compliment!

What are you most looking forward to this weekend? I was really excited for this morning’s race, and in a minute we’re leaving to see Wil’s mom for the night, so that should be fun too!