It’s been five years since my previous 5K race and I was somewhat intimidated by the La Jolla Shores 5K. I mean, I think I’m close to the fitness that I want to be in but I realised, as I walked up to the start line from our hotel, that I had not been doing any sort of speedwork; this meant I hadn’t the slightest idea of how my body would respond.

But back to the walk up to the start line. It was approximately 2 miles; with at least a quarter-mile of climbing up the hill. I was trying to jog whilst on the flatland before reaching the hill (to warm up for it) but stopped cos then I thought, I need to conserve my energy for when I jog up the hill. That really didn’t happen. LOL. I ended up run/walking the hill and by the time I got to the top, I was sweating profusely (I’m sure I looked like I had just ran the 5K!)

La Jolla Shores 5K

So, it was awesome I made it up before the start “cut off” time (which was 7:00AM.) When I got there, I tried to keep myself warmed up and checked my heart rate to make sure it doesn’t dip too low (or close to resting)… Turns out, I didn’t have to get there too fast because they were not strict at all with the cut-off time; I mean, people were still arriving at 7:20AM! A whole ten minutes before the start of the race! Doh!

The start itself was uneventful. The girl who was supposed to sing the national anthem did NOT show up! LOL. So we just had a mini countdown to begin. I also have to note that there were a number of “first timers” there — so the announcer on the PA kept reminding the runners (and mostly the kids) in not so many words that they should not be at the front of the group, unless they’re going to finish the race in under 15 minutes. Whoa!

When the race began, I actually waited by the pavement until a majority of the runners have passed. Then I took off. The first mile was easy because, well, it was all downhill! I think I averaged a pace of 8:30 min/mile! Gravity did its work well. By the time we hit flatland, conveniently after the first mile marker, well, let’s just say it went downhill from there (negatively!) my pace was up and down and I was somehow trying to maintain a slower pace… Then I thought, “Wait, this is just a 3 miler! Why am I conserving my energy?!” It was too late, though, by mile 2, I had resigned to the fact that I would not PR this race as I grabbed a cup of electrolyte replacement drink and briefly walked. Just as quickly as I decided to give up, I changed my mind and thought there might still be a chance to PR. Hehehe.

As luck would have it, a man in an Los Angeles Angels (of Anaheim) shirt ran past me and that was my cue to draft behind him — which turned out to be a great strategy because the next half mile was UPHILL. Ok, not as steep as the one at the start line but we went from an elevation of 23ft to 149ft. I actually trailed back a bit, as I could not keep up with him, but did my best NOT to stop running. To my relief, the final leg was all downhill, albeit the street was very uneven!

I finished (no medal) and made my way to the freebies. My official chip time is 32:58. That’s 14 seconds from my previous best! Ugh. If I didn’t stop and remained positive, I’m sure I would have gotten a new personal best. Still, my morning did not go to waste as I, er, celebrated my finish with a couple of (free) beers from their fab beer garden.

Free Beer #1

Free Beer #2

Moar beeeeeeer!

p.s.,
I just had 4 cups. It was light beer!

p.p.s.,
Check out Garmin’s display of the altitude and my pace: Forerunner 201. And then check out how high my heart rate spiked: Forerunner 50. LOL.

N.B.
I went to the Physical Therapist’s tent at the post-race expo and I’m glad to report that my left knee is OK in a sense that I won’t need any surgery or anything like that BUT I just need to tape it (he said) and probably still have it checked some more.