Yesterday I ran the 27th Annual O’Fallon Firecracker 5k. It’s my first actual *race* in a while and my first of my “keep the motivation up for training purposes” races.

I went to bed super late the night before, like 11:00 late! Not cool when you have to get up before 6 the next morning! So when my alarm went off I was so not feeling it…as a matter of fact I felt downright sickly. But I shook it off and got dressed.

The weather was not that fantastic. On my drive to O’Fallon, it POURED down rain for a couple of minutes. By the time I reached T.R. Hughes Ballpark, it had mostly stopped. I milled around with the other runners for a while and then saw a couple friends of mine so I chatted with them until the start.

The race started right on time at 7:00, which was nice. It took about 2 to 3 minutes to cross the mat at the start line, but once I hit it, it wasn’t very croweded. I ran for about 12 minutes before I took my first walk break,  and I was expecting hit the first mile around 18 minutes in, because that’s what I had done in my three milers previously. I was shocked when I hit the first mile at 15:00! So shocked, that I accidently stopped my watch instead of hitting the split button. After that first mile, I knew I could keep this pace up, and was determined to finish under 50 minutes.

I had gotten a new Nathan hand-held bottle, to put my key fob in and to make sure I had something to drink, since I’ve been to 5ks before where they have no water stops. This one had two water stops, but since I had my bottle I didn’t grab a drink. It was super nice! A little awkward at first, but then when I switched hands it really felt fairly natural to hold it.

The rain started up again at the start, but then stopped part way through, and started up again as I was leaving. You get to run around the warning track and cross over the homeplate area of the ballpark and there were tons of people in the stands cheering and clapping for the runners, so the finish was pretty cool.

All in all, I had a really great time at the race, and definitely have it on the books for next year 🙂

Stats on the 27th Annual O’Fallon Firecracker 10k/5k/1 Mile Fun Run

Gun Time- 49:04                                                                                                  

Chip Time- 46:47

Pace- 15:04/Mile

Overall Place- 545/579

Age Group 20-29 Females 59/62