Frostbite 5K in Hendersonville

Frostbite 5K in Hendersonville, TN

The last time I raced was November 7, the Hoover Run for Hope. I was on my own for running this weekend, so I took advantage of that and headed out to the Sumner County Y for the Frostbite 5K. It was aptly named: it was about 25* when I got there and might have warmed up to 30* by the time we started the race. I somehow forgot my Garmin and realized it too late to turn around and get it, so I have only stats from my watch and the final results. Same as last time, I ate oatmeal for breakfast between 6:30 and 7 before the 8am race, and I had a little water to drink before the race also. By about mile 1.5, I was so hungry it felt like I hadn't eaten since lunch the day before!

I timed the miles and split at a few other places. (Italicized stats are from the previous race.)

• 23:54 total, 7:xx pace; 23:35 total, 7:28 pace (5:37 best), 162 HR (198 max)
  
• Mile 1: 6:40! This is my fastest recorded mile (previous was 6:47 at the Hoover Run for Hope in 2008; that course's first mile is all downhill and I took advantage of it)
  
• Mile 2: 4:45 (I split here because I felt like this is where I started slowing down) + 3:22 (8:07)
  
• Mile 3: 3:33 (I split here because I realized that I was collapsing my chest and then focused on trying to fix that) + 5:34 (9:07)

So yeah, I slowed down significantly. But the first mile was encouraging. I still ended up 2nd in my age group and 8th overall female (of about 112), about 2 minutes behind the winner. More disheartening, though, is that the winner was 12 and two others who beat me were 12 as well. Ouch! I did stay with them for the first mile, though (as if that's any consolation).