Had a decent 20-minute first 5K but faded fast. I felt a second wind somewhere during the third lap, but it wasn’t nearly enough to bring me back to a good 15K pace. Blister on the bottom of my left foot started to hurt again around mile 4. More hobbling today. 😬
A couple fellow runners warned me about the mental burden of having to pass the finish line twice. And of racing mostly alone after the 5K. The first was definitely real (though it also meant that I could use the “finish line” as an aid station). I was helped against the second by three athletic European cyclists-turned-runners this time (like the two fast Germans last month!) who decided to run the 15K. One of them held a 6-minute-ish mile then completely faded to walking around 7.5 miles. Another maintained a pace that I followed relatively closely — including a minute-per-5K collapse after the first 5K. When he realized that I was still right behind him for the third and final 5K, though, he took off and I didn’t have enough steam to keep up. He told me later that he still thought I was right behind him until close to the end!
Anyway — glad I finally managed to get the last of the “Total Time” series (4th Sunday 5K, 10K, and 15K) before the holidays. Also had fun helping out with same-day registration with Shauna today! For the second month in a row, this race benefitted a local school. This time, it was Glenview Elementary School, and an extra, half-mile juniors race was run for the kids. Seeing the kids run was extra fun!
