The Grand Prix: 5K Race and Injury Report

Yesterday I ran the third race in the Grand Prix series, a 5K. I was a little wary of doing this event because our area got hammered with about six inches of snow on Wednesday and the race was supposed to take place on wooded trails. It was cold yesterday morning, but mercifully the race wasn't scheduled to start until 11:30. By the time I got to the course, it was hovering right around 40 degrees.

Most of the running trails had been shoveled clear, but there were still many slick spots so we had to be very mindful of our footing. My left foot has been hurting since I did the 15K last weekend. I haven't quite figured out what's wrong with it, though. It is most likely a deep bruise on my instep or a small blood vessel that burst. In any case, I stayed off of it as much as I could last week and it's definitely feeling much better.

My primary goal for the race was to get to the end without wiping out on any icy patches. Beyond that, I really wanted to run a sub-30 minute 5K. My all-time PR (personal record) for the 5K is 27:09. I knew I wouldn't be quite that fast because I still haven't had much of an opportunity to train. But I did manage to reach both race goals and came in at an unofficial finish time of 29:31 (9:32/mile pace).

What's even better is that my split times got gradually faster and faster. My first mile was 9:51, my second was 9:44, and my third was 9:11. The last 0.1 miles took me about 43 seconds... I have no idea what that means.

I'm still waiting on the Grand Prix point results. Officially my finish time was 29:30.7 (9:31/mile pace). I was 44th out of 103 women. Not sure about my division.

My foot hurts more today than it did yesterday, but less than it did the day after the 15K. I'm worried that this might keep me from running the half-marathon next weekend. OR if I still run the half-marathon, I'm worried that it will start to hurt worse during the race and I'll have to walk a significant portion of the course. If I rest this week and then can make it through the run next weekend, I'll have two weeks off from the Grand Prix before a 2 mile race and then two more weeks off. I hope I'm not setting myself up for a year of over-training injuries!

UPDATE - I got 5th out of the 6 Grand Prix competitors in my age group for 12 points! Yeah! Overall, I'm now 8th out of 12 women in my Grand Prix age group. 

And may the peace of the Lord be always with you.