Village Creek 5k... The Suspense!!

It's 10:35 Friday night, in 10 hours I will be toeing the line in my first 5K in 2 years. I'm a little nervous!

I haven't been blogging much lately because... Well... I haven't been running much lately, so very little to blog about. We've been in a big push to finish the remodel on our house (we started it almost 8 years ago...), so all of my spare time has been devoted to things like laminate wood flooring, trim, paint, and cabinets and such.

So once again, I feel like I'm going into a race underprepared... Again...

2 years ago I ran this race on the old course which starts literally .23 miles from my driveway and runs down one of the worst chip seal roads this side of the Mason Dixon, so I wore my VFF KSO's although they tended to bother me when I ran in them.

This year thy has moved the course to the new city park, which is where I have been parking my truck lately when I go on my long runs down FM 421 (my favorite running road!). The new course configuration is 1 loop around the parks cemented road, then 1 mile down 421 and 1 mile back in.

PERFECT!...

...Almost. The problem here is that the first mile is ran on a cement loop. Normally this wouldn't be an issue, but the last time I was there (which was a few weeks ago...) the road was COVERED in little pebbles and rocks. The type that make a barefoot runner cringe with anticipation of pain.

My plan for footwear in my new VFF SeeYa LS's. These should provide enough protection for the majority of the debris, but not be too much show to slow me down. I do intend to jog a lap or 2 before the race to see if they bothered to clean the road off some, but I doubt they did.

My plan as far as running the race is concerned is somewhat simple.

Just run.

I haven't timed a 5K in 2 years, I haven't timed myself in a standing mile in probably 8 months or so, and I haven't done any real speed work in... I don't even know. So I have no clue what time I will run. Based off my half marathon results from a month or 2 back, I think it might be possible to set a PR! Maybe... I ran a 20:36 here 2 years ago (I think) and I think I'm a stronger runner now than I was then.

I would like to place in the top 5. It really depends on who shows up. Last years champ ran a low 17 minute time, 2nd place was high 19's, and my time from 2 years ago would have placed me in 5th or 6th I think. I would LOVE to run a sub 20:00, but I don't think that is going to happen.

In a way, it makes this kind of fun! Because since I don't have an ideal pace to run at, I'll just kind of be running really hard and fast. I do plan on running sort of like I did at my last Half Marathon, where I steadily get faster and faster throughout the race, but instead of 1 mile intervals, I think I will base my increases in speed off of every half mile, and plan to run the last 3/4~1 mile all out!

Ok. Got 9.5 hours remaining! Hopefully they will have cleaned off the road and I can proudly represent BFR!