NHL All Star 5k

Hello all,
I am hoping that I am back on the right track. I was able to do a 5k this morning with a bare minimum of training. Not that I would recommend that, but I was able to do it. I haven't been much of a runner since early in high school and my goal for today was to be faster than my last 5k three years ago. Fortunately for me, I did it.

Today's 5k was the All Star 5k at the RBC Center. The race was part of the NHL All Star game festivities. My training has been rather sporadic due to sinus issues and other health issues, but after swimming earlier this week, I knew my cardio level was still in a good range. My goal was to jog 1 minute, walk 1 minute. I was hoping for a sub-45 minute race time and couldn't bury myself to get that. I have to work tonight at the Skills Competition.

Start time was at 9am and I am far from an early riser anymore and having to get hubby and squirt going at the same time made for an interesting morning pre-race.

We arrived at the RBC Center at about 8:30, picked up my timing chip and got it on my shoe. I was headed to the start and had to pull a u-turn back to the restrooms before the start. I made it out to the start about 2 minutes prior to the gun.

I was able to stretch a bit and get loosened up. I was about a minute behind the gun crossing the start line. I started jogging early, which is a departure from the way I would normally start a 5k. I jogged until I was winded and then settled into my walk/jog rhythm. I don't know how close to the 1 minute times I was as I had forgotten my watch on the coffee table this morning. So, I did the best I could managing my energy and my breath. The temperature improved considerably during the race... I was a little hesitant when I saw 26 degrees on the van's display this morning.

The course had more uphill than I thought, but I still managed it well. From the start, it was downhill until around .7 mile and then uphill until past the 2 mile mark. The last mile was a combo of downhill to a turn, level to downhill a good ways and then back up a good ways with two more turns and downhill into the finish.

I saw the clock as I was heading into the finish, the official clock from the gun read 44:00 and counting. I was bound and determined for my gun time and chip time to both be under 45 minutes. I did it. I'll even post a pic of my two times.