Form Follows Fitness 5K

 

This past Saturday I ran my first 5K after completely recovering from my grade 2 calf sprain in my right leg.

The 5K race I ran was the second annual Form Follows Fitness 5K, held in Downtown Dallas.  What made this race really fun was that I was given the opportunity to organize a team from my work to run with and with only three days notice, I was able to put together a team of 11 people to run with.  Now, once the race started, it was every person for themselves, so we didn't all finish together, but we all finished, including four who had not competed in a 5K before!

Part of our 11 member team.  I am on the far left.

It was 34 degrees at race time, and there were about 1200 people or so who raced, so it was a nice event to run.  I think it could have been a larger event had the Ft. Worth's Cowtown Marathon not been happening at the same time.

The course itself was relatively easy, with a nice downhill start that allowed everyone to build up steam.  It was the last 800 or so feet that was the biggest pain.  All uphill with what I am guessing was a 15 to 20 degree incline!  It was at that point that I started slowing down.

I wasn't sure what I would run as far as time goes in this race, but I had set a goal of 24 minutes right before the start.  After the runs I had the week leading up to this race, I knew I'd be able to run close to the pace I'd need to set, but I wasn't sure if I would be able to sustain that pace.

But I did maintain close to that pace the entire race!

Now the only thing wrong with this picture is that it shows me going 3.17 miles, because I started the tracking app on my phone when the horn sounded for the race.  I was way behind the starting gate, so I am going by the time the gps tracking app shows me at 3.10 miles, and not the official results.

Here is what I believe I ran:

 Yes, that is a 5K distance in 24 minutes and 26 seconds, which is 4 minutes and 58 seconds better than my previous PR of  29:24. set at the Turkey Trot held in Dallas on Thanksgiving Day, 2012.  That is a new PR!

Here are the official results for me from the race:

So, overall a great race for me.  I am now 100 percent fully healed and I appear to be faster than ever.  I am really looking forward to pushing myself even more.

Thanks for reading.  Have a great rest of the day!