Throwing it back to a few weeks ago, I had a fun morning at the Super Sunday 5 miler! I ran this race last year and struggled through it, but ended up with a time I was really proud of. I then had an amazing 5 miler over Thanksgiving, so I didn’t set a time goal, but figured as per usual that I would take it hard but keep the pace under control.

I got to the race nice and early with J, since we knew we had a big Oiselle group meeting up with us. The check-in was smooth and we shivered our way to our “VIP” team tent–which was way colder than the big heated tent where check-in was. I did a quick warmup with Kate, Sarah, and Alexa before grabbing the girls we could find for a team picture. Things had gotten a bit chaotic at that point–turns out the computer systems were down so all check-in was being done by hand. This actually ended up delaying the race start by close to 20 minutes, which wasn’t super fun on a windy, cold day. By the time we lined up in the corrals I was ready to run fast and be done.

I started out pushing past some of the slower runners before settling into the pack. I ran by feel as I didn’t have my mile splits on and barely looked at my watch this whole race–which definitely worked for me! The first mile felt fairly strong so I held steady through the second and third miles, trying to be really true to how I felt versus basing my pace on anyone else. I kept my sights on Sarah, one of my speedy teammates (in the shorts), and by mile 4 or so I had her and another Oiselle gal, Katie, in my sights (red capris).

Around then a spectator yelled “you’re almost there–empty the tank!” and I hit it! Unfortunately we still had a mile to go and the finishing chute for the race is super long, so getting through to the finish was a slog, but I managed to hit a 6:31 pace. Overall, my splits were 6:40, 6:37, 6:31, 6:37, and 6:31–nice and steady! And I managed a 20 second PR with a 33:12 finish, which got me 27th woman and 5th in my AG. It was a competitive field out there.

After the race we hit up the after party, which was a bit of a mess–a couple of the beer tents weren’t open, and there wasn’t any cider or any food for a gluten free lady. And only one of the heaters in the tent was working… and my results came out wrong, so I had to get them fixed.

However, there was an AMAZING cover band so we stayed for a bit before scooting off to eat and change into dry clothes. Despite the hiccups before and after, the race itself was spot-on–the course was fast, well-marked and staffed, and 5 miles on the nose. It’s a great way to spend the morning of Superbowl Sunday, and we’ll definitely be back next year!