Even with the power of science, I still sucked ass.

After last weekend's 5k, I decided I should give a 5k that didn't require eating Krispy Kremes a try to see where I stood these days. I figured that I probably ran a 29:30 5k last weekend, subtracting the time it took to eat the donuts. So I was shooting for under 30 (sadly still 2 and a half minutes off my PR). So today I did an Earth Day 5k put on by the evolutionary biology and ecology grad student group. I figured that this would be a perfect time to whip out my newest nerdy t-shirt (note I am horrible taking photos of myself):And look at that! I got number 42! I mean, this has to bode well, right?

Uh, not! (Let' go back 15 years, why don't we?) My friend who had never run a race before was there and she asked me what my mile pace was. I told her these days for a 5k race, it was about 9:45. She seemed to think this was fast, even though she said she was a 10 minute/mile girl and I told her she would probably run faster in a race than she does on her own. The race starts and I don't see her until the end - she came in at about 25 minutes! Gees, I wish I went that much faster in a race.

Anyways, I started out a bit too fast, but I was sucking wind the entire time. My heart rate stayed above my lactate threshold the entire time (which theoretically meant I should slow down, but even though I have the pretty numbers, I tend to ignore them and just run how I feel).

I came in at 30:38. Gees, this is my slowest 5k time since February 2005, when I started doing distance running, so I am not a happy camper. I don't necessarily think that it was just a bad day either. My hamstring didn't hurt while running, I just think that having to do very conservative running training for the past six months has taken its toll. My hopes of being able to do a 30 min 5k in the tri are pretty much blown. But surprisingly, I have been feeling pretty good on the bike lately and really, the triathlon is all about the bike, right?