Race Report: Firefly Run 5K 2012

Last night was Atlanta's turn to host the Firefly Run. It is a nighttime 5K, so you receive light-up LED bands to wear while running and are encouraged to wear any other light-up or glow-in-the-dark accessories. I registered for this race shortly after the Peachtree back in July, so it's been on my calendar for a while. I thought it would be a nice change of pace to race outdoors on an October evening, and the starting line was near Piedmont Park, which is one of my favorite parts of Atlanta.

Heather, Kara, and Kara's fiance Adam all signed up too, so we met up to carpool together. We parked in a deck at the park and walked over to the staging area. After standing in line to get our bibs, t-shirts, and LED bands, we took a few pictures...

Kara, Heather, and me ready to go!

Then we headed to the starting line. It was just around the corner, down the sidewalk outside the park, and no announcement was made directing people to head to the start in X number of minutes or anything, so a lot of folks were strolling towards the start without any real sense of urgency. This ticked off the announcer at the starting line, who began making remarks such as, "To all of you just sauntering to the start, please pick up your feet. Some of us would like to get started." Definitely could have done without the sarcasm!

Once we finally made it, we waited for five minutes or so and then the gun went off. This was my first race with my new Garmin, so I was pretty excited about being able to keep an eye on my pace and time.

I crossed the starting line at 8:05 PM. Of course there was a huge crush of people at the beginning, and it took a while for the walkers to move towards the right and let the runners pass on the left. The course also began with a series of rolling hills which slowed a lot of people down immediately. We ran out of the park down 10th Street, passed Blake's and The Flying Biscuit, and turned into Midtown, passing Shout. I finished Mile 1 in 11:20... not the greatest.

We then ran through some pretty dark residential areas. I was feeling strong and definitely thankful for the cool night air. We passed a house all decked out for Halloween with orange lights, spiderwebs, and gravestones -- it reminded me of what my parents used to do when I was a kid. There was also an area set up where a DJ had strung colored lights among some trees and was playing Katy Perry music. He had a sign that said "On site entertainment" so I'm assuming he was hired by the race. I hit mile 2 in 10:21.

Almost immediately after beginning the second mile, we approached a hill much bigger than the so-called Cardiac Hill along the Peachtree course. I was determined not to let it affect my pace too much, so I pushed myself and made sure to control my breathing, which is what usually saps my energy. Heather said she saw a woman throwing up right around that area when she came through, so apparently it was pretty challenging haha.

The remainder of the course was fairly flat. We ran into the park, back out, and back in again. I looked at my watch, saw I was at 2.81 miles, and decided to give it everything I had. It's a really good feeling to have some energy left at the end and finish strong. My pace for the third mile was 9:48, with the pace for the remaining 1/10 mile 8:05. :)

Overall, my Garmin said 33:01 for my finish time, and my official chip time was 32:52, which is a 10:35 pace. I am still struggling to return to my 10:00 pace, but each run recently has decreased by 5-10 seconds, so I'm getting there.

Now, back to the show.

It's definitely been a long time since I've posted here. Since my friend Kayla over at A Lovely Nest encouraged me to post, I thought I'd give it a shot. Looking back on my past entries, I feel pretty guilty about how motivated I was about running in the past and how honestly lazy I have been recently. While we're being honest, I have not made any long-term changes to my eating or exercise habits like I so naively and enthuastically aspired to last year.

Meanwhile, I will be running the 2012 Peachtree Road Race next week, on July 4. It will be my first 10K and I am nervous for a variety of reasons. My longest training run thus far has been a little more than 5 miles. I probably could get out and push myself to do 6, but I've been struggling with the negative self-talk that has haunted me in the past.

I'm also (unreasonably?) concerned about running in the heat. I have been trying to get out there and train around the same time of day that the race will begin, but my regular route is mostly shaded and I strongly doubt I will experience any shade on race day. What I should do is drag my butt out to a park somewhere. I really miss living closer to Swift-Cantrell Park in Kennesaw.

Finally, I have been debating over getting new shoes for a few weeks, but it's not in my budget right now. I hope that my starting-to-get-tired Asics will hold up!

Enough complaining. I need to affirm myself more and not be so critical. It is a little disheartening to realize I am still struggling with the same issues I had in the past, but it's not as if I am out of time to change my habits and attitude. I hope that I will be able to celebrate my accomplishment next week and view it as just one stop along a continued journey.