Jingle Bell 5k - Race Review

After participating in Girls on the Run on Saturday, the wife and I decided to tackle the Jingle Bell 5k on Sunday, encouraged by some of her students, who were also participating in both. As this was also my weekend of no long run after 3 weeks in a row of being "up," it seemed like a good idea at the time.

That said, the weather was fairly yucky, 40ish degrees and light rain. I would've considered it horrible, if it weren't for the fact that I remember doing this race in 35 degree HARD rain only a few years ago.

Though not a hard course, this one can't be described as a PR course, either, and I've run this race 3 times somewhere between 19:40-19:50. Though I was hopeful to do that again, I've only had my mileage up for about a month, none of which has been speedwork.

My blood sugar was high at the beginning; right around 180. I was nearly done with a 6 day pack of steroids, aimed at helping my rotator cuff. I'd kept my pump around 130% basals for most of the week, which was enough to take off the edge of the steroids, but still, it didn't take much to get the BG high last week.

The race itself was fairly unremarkable. I tried to go with a guy I find myself chasing in a lot of local races, but he had a gear I didn't in this one and beat me handily. In the last half mile, I took a turn wide after a volunteer told me to, and another guy passed us both on the inside. So, technically he cheated, though he wasn't off the course. Still, it annoyed me a bit, but I didn't have any kick to pull him in.

I was a little bummed to finish in 20:07, which is my slowest 5k that I've gone all-out in for some time. The fact that I went a full 90 seconds faster just 8 months ago affirms how much faster I was in the spring, but that said, it's all about piling on the mileage and not getting hurt right now, and I'm pretty much doing that. And I did finish 3rd in my AG out of 81, which was good for a little metal that took some of the sting off of not breaking 20.

My rotator cuff is still given me fits, though PT is starting to help and Vicodin is helping me sleep. And it's not getting in the way of the long runs, which is the best part of all.

Obligatory turning off the watch pic. As I'm waiting for my Team Novo Nordisk gear to come out in January, this was the first race I've run in two years without Team Type 1 gear, and it made me a little sad! Looking forward to the Team Novo Nordisk 2013 kit!