run like a diva 5k

after a week in the bahamas and a short week of work, i dashed off for a long weekend in myrtle beach. (i know, my life is rough). i'm sure i've mentioned it 120 times before, but i love the beach. i must figure out how to get relocated to a beach town...

i was there with a few friends to celebrate a bachelorette weekend, and the bachelorette wanted us to plan her weekend around a race! she ultimately picked the run like a diva event in north myrtle beach, sc. the bride-to-be and one bridesmaid ran the half marathon while the other two of us ran the 5k. we booked a suite at the ocean drive beach and golf resort which was perfectly located right in front of the start and finish lines.

my regular runs have been so-so lately. i still feel slow and take walk breaks sometimes, so i wasn't really looking forward to this 5k. i mostly run 3 miles, but have done 4 or 5 a few times. i'm still only running about 4 days a week with an average pace of 10:13/mile (for may). i know i should be building back up a little more aggressively, but i've been slack.

half-marathon divas ready to run!

on race morning, emily and i discussed our survival strategy for the 5k. obviously i've been rebuilding and she hasn't ran in two+ months so our goal was to not take walk breaks. we lined up in the 10:00/mile corral and ran together for the first mile, which did not take 10:00. at the one mile marker i tapped into my former cross country mindset* and decided to push it a little in mile 2. i pulled away from em and passed a bunch of divas. i was surprised by the crowd support and hoped that the half-marathoners had a good turnout of spectators too. i've only been running easy lately so i had no idea what type of pace to expect from myself. mile two was under 9:00.

i was now in the third mile and a little tired, but not as bad as previous 5k's where i was (truly) racing. i turned a corner behind two other girls and quickly passed them; 5 blocks to go. i was gaining on a guy (there were a few who were brave enough to run this diva-licious event) and overtook him just past the tiara and boa station. honestly, i think he let me pass him since this was a women's event, but who knows. mile three took less than 8:00. i rounded the last corner and cruised into the finish (i didn't super sprint in like i normally do); emily finished shortly after me.

the clock time was 25:xx and there weren't many finishers standing around, so i checked the results. turns out emily and i both took 2nd in our respective age groups! not too shabby considering our current lack of training. it was a nice surprise and confidence booster - now i know i can handle more running and start adding back in some workouts.

race swag: tiara, boa, rose, and a medal from hot shirtless firemen

not pictured: champagne

note: i ran a 33:26 in my return 5k i did a month ago and a 25:13 in this 5k, so if i use jill's math i will be running 17:xx 5k by mid-june.

*coach always said to pick up the pace in mile 2 and hang on in mile 3 (or something like that).