Fangtastic 5K and Predators' Game

The start of the race

This morning's 5K race was one of my favorites: the Predators' Fangtastic 5K. I like it because you get tickets to the game with your race entry fee. It's definitely not the course that I like—downtown Nashville is hilly! Anna asked me yesterday what my goal was, and I said my goals were to run consistent and run the last mile faster than the first. I did not accomplish either. However, I was faster during this race than my previous 5K (Resolution Run) by 58 seconds and was faster than last year's Fangtastic 5K by 51 seconds if my watch is right (it's different from the preliminary results, which have me finishing in 23:12).

Race notes from this year: There were 1,206 finishers (546 males and 660 females); I ended up 3^rd in my age group of 174. I was 14^th of the 660 females. I was 86^th of the 1,206 finishers. Last year I was 3/185 in AG, 39/782 in sex, and 161/1,504 overall. This year's results are slightly better since my time was better (top 7% OA, top 2% female, top 2% AG in 2010 vs. top 11% OA, top 5% female, and top 2% AG).

Trying to stay warm...and loose

My mile times were OK; not the most consistent, but definitely not the worst I've ever run, either. And I really tried to pick it up the last mile to get my pace faster that mile than the first. It helped that a bit of it was downhill and I kept looking at my watching knowing I was close to finishing in the 22 minute somewhere. The preliminary results said my finishing time was 23:12, but my watch says I finished in 22:58.

• Totals (the satellites weren't picked up until a little after I started, so the total distance and pace are slightly off): 22:58, 2.95 miles, 7:47 pace (3:43 best—prob not quite right!), 367 cal (no HRM)
• Mile 1: 7:10 (5:17 best)
• Mile 2: 7:41 (6:03 best)
• Mile 3.1: 8:06 (7:23 pace, 3:43 best)

This wasn't as consistent as my miles from the Res Run, where there were only 20 seconds between slowest and fastest miles. This time there were 31 seconds, but the first and last miles were significantly faster than last time, which means improvement!

Weather-wise, it was absolutely freezing. I had toe warmers, hand warmers, gloves, a head band, a running thermal and UnderArmor, and fleece tights. The coldest part of me was the tops of my feet. Because of the shoes I was wearing and the toe warmers, I was able to wear only 1 pair of socks, and evidently it was not the warmest pair. They didn't really warm up, but I just kept moving. The rest of my body felt good except my hips—not quite sure why those were sore.

I got hungry again during the race, but I just kept going. For breakfast at 8am (10am start time) I ate a bowl of oatmeal with a banana, blueberries, almonds, and honey. It tasted good but evidently wasn't enough. Around 9:10 I ate two bites of my berry almond Luna Bar and didn't want the rest of it. Then about 1.5 miles in I started feeling hungry. My stomach didn't hurt at all while I was running but as soon as I finished it definitely felt like it usually does after a good hard effort. I tried to walk normally and breathe well but didn't feel good. It's weird because it feels like cramps, but instead of being weakening it's more debilitating. Like all I want to do is lay down and curl up in a ball and make it go away or at least forget about it. It took at least 10 minutes to go away but then I felt great. I wasn't hungry after and only drank some water because I had it (I had taken in 16 oz by noon) and ate a bag of green peppers and half a bagel (the whole thing wouldn't fit in the bag I had to put it in). I was hungry when I got home, though!

Then it was off on a little free adventure to the Country Music Hall of Fame. Today they were offering free admission; I would never pay $20 for a ticket, but I wasn't going to not go since I was already downtown and had paid for parking! It was kind of interesting and I enjoyed admiring Elvis' car that's on display there.

I was also kind of remotely interested in all the gold, silver, and platinum albums that are along many of the walls throughout the museum.

It was definitely worth the free ticket, and I can now say I've done a good tourist activity downtown! Then it was off to the Predators' game later in the afternoon. They lost 3–4, but it was a good game and I was thrilled that Will came with me. Things like that are much more enjoyable with someone, especially with someone with his hockey knowledge! We had fairly decent seats, seemingly better than the $20 I paid for the tickets. I'm thinking they upgraded my tickets after TicketMaster went down and they weren't able to redeem the vouchers when I was in there the other day.

They recognized the Olympians before the game, which was exciting, and I think it made both of us think, "Some day!"