Chilly 5k

The short:

I jumped into a New Years Day 5k and it was a great way to kick off the year! I was unsure what to expect time-wise but I aimed to compete, and came away with the overall female win in 19:20. I got to run through a finishing banner, got a few great photos, was interviewed post-race, and had a fun day with friends, so 2024 can really only go downhill from here. ;-)

Results are here, my personal results are here.

A Joplin Globe photo of me from the race is here, and an article that I am quoted in and pictured in is here.

I love a breaking the tape action shot!

The long:

A friend told me about the Chilly 5k in Joplin a couple of months ago, and I wrote it in my training calendar for reference but didn't really think I'd run it. The week before the race, a very tentative girls' day in Pittsburg started becoming more definitive, and I decided if the girls' day happened it only made sense to run the race on my drive to Pitt, since I'd be driving by Joplin anyway. 

I haven't done any time-based workouts since before the Bass Pro Marathon, but I have been running consistently and doing hill workouts so figured it would be fine enough. I also figured that no one is 5k sharp on January 1! My primary goal was to place as high as I could, going for the overall female win if it was within reason, and not worry about my time.

The race is point-to-point, from downtown Joplin to the YMCA on the south side of town. I parked at the Y and ran to the start plus a little more to warm up. It was simple to do, but the downside was that I didn't have a car at the start to toss clothes into. I dressed between what I would wear for an easy run and a race in the conditions (air temp 30*, wind chill 22*) in a thin long sleeve, gloves, an ear warmer, and tights. I was a little cold on my warm up and a little hot during the race as expected.

The race was decent-sized at around 300 participants. I wasn't sure who my competition would be, but as I was warming up I saw another woman warming up and thought, "She looks fast!" As I got closer I saw it was my friend Liz, who is fast! After I got my race number I connected with my friends Natalie and John, and stashed my phone in their car. I'd warmed up with it in a pocket because I was paranoid about getting lost on my warm up and missing the start, which ended up being a very unfounded fear. 

The start that I was not ready for

I lined up near the front, not far from John, Liz, and a woman who I know from Joplin, Christy. After the National Anthem and a prayer, we were off! It seemed like many men and boys went out fast, but I zeroed in on women and noted I was in 3rd behind a teenager and Christy. I settled into 5k effort and found myself right next to John. The first two women weren't too far out, and staying steady I reeled them in and passed them both around the mile.

Around that time a young man (from the results I know he was 23) settled in just behind me. Passing for the lead and having him on my shoulder was good motivation to push, and the second mile had several hills so it wasn't easy. After a bit he came up and ran beside me. Going up a hill shortly before the 2 mile mark, he pulled away slightly, but after the hill I closed the gap. When we hit mile 2 I pushed harder and gapped him, then extended my lead to 15 seconds by the finish.

This course was interesting because it was a net uphill for the first 2 miles. I thought mile 1 was pretty gentle, but I could tell it in my pace and by the elevation chart. Mile 2 seemed harder with more hills, though still nothing extreme for a Missouri runner. Then mile 3 had almost all down, which was fun! I felt like I ran in a way that mile 3 would be my fastest mile, but the downhill made it even faster. It felt really good to push and I felt strong coming towards the finish. I definitely felt better in this race than I have been feeling doing short hill reps in training!

About a quarter mile out from the finish, the lead bike came back for me after leading the top male in. As he rode me closer to the finish he waved his arms up and down, I assume to signal the finish line that the first female was coming in. I heard the announcer say something to that effect and saw the finish line volunteers put up a finishing banner. I love getting to break a tape! I gave a huge smile and the announcer said, "Keep that smile right through the finish line!" He was also announcing where the clock was at as I came down the final stretch, and when I heard 19:10 I was pleasantly surprised; I wasn't completely sure I could run under 20:00 but I was going to be way under!

Final bit

I had a huge smile on my face as I came in, and saw a photographer snapping photos in the finish chute, indicating that I was surprisingly coherent. I ran through the finishing tape, which was supposed to break at a Velcro attachment but did not. I then ended up tripping over the banner that didn't break, and narrowly avoided falling down. I was hoping I'd get finishing photos of that part, but they were either too nice to take them or too nice to post them. My official time was 19:20. I thought there were a ton of men in front of me but it turns out there were only 4.

Not my best photo but a big smile

I turned around to see where my competition and friends were. The second and third women came in at 19:43 and 19:48 (Christy), then John came though, then Liz, then Jacob - all pretty quickly after I finished. As I started walking out of the chute, a reporter from the Joplin Globe asked if he could ask me some questions, so I of course obliged. I think my runners high was clear from one of my quotes here, "It's great, a great way to start the year...I highly recommend it for everybody."

Joplin Globe article

My mention

John was planning to run back to the start to get his car prior to the awards, and I'd told him I'd run back with him when I stashed my phone in his car, because I wanted about 10 miles for the day. We ran the course backwards along with Liz for about a mile, and cheered for those we knew who were running. We ran 3.5 more miles total at my request, then hopped in his car and hightailed it back to the awards. I ended up just missing my overall award, but Natalie picked it up for me and later they called me back on the podium.

The podium was a nice touch!

My run on Strava matched with a couple of people who have premium Strava, one of whom was only 14 seconds behind me, so I was able to figure out my grade-adjusted paces for the race. My actual splits were 6:19, 6:27, 5:55 (5:25 final 0.12) - grade adjusted was 6:12, 6:22, 6:06. I felt like I got out well, eased up a little during mile 2, then hammered the final mile, so this makes sense to me. It's also faster than I expected to run, so I was happy about that.

I think 2024 is going to be my year of running races like this where I can compete for the win, because this race felt really right and I want to do it again!

Cute unique award

Post-race girls' afternoon!

The other Joplin Globe mention