PR at the Full Moon!

Alright.  So I straight up MURDERED my previous personal best at the Full Moon 5k here in Tulsa tonight.  My previous PR, 23:40, was set at the Race for the Cure back in September.  Since then I have run two other 5k's.  The Jingle Bell Run at Christmas time was incredibly windy and it had some pretty nasty hills around between 2k and 3k.  No good.  Don't even remember my time.  Then it was the Saint Patrick's Day 5k on Brookside here in Tulsa.  That one was disappointing because the course is flat, flat, flat.  Unfortunately, due to very poor judgement on my part the night before, I wasn't feeling well enough to go all out.  I finished that one in just under 26 minutes.

So here we get to today.  The weird thing about the Full Moon Run is that it takes place at night.  I know that's not unprecedented, but I'm just not sure how to prepare over the course of a day to run a race at night.  It just feels weird.  I didn't try to eat light today, per se.  Just reasonably.  We had been advised when registering to get to the race site early as this year's field was either bigger than it had ever been or had been in a while.  So we show up an hour-and-a-half before the gun.  This was a little excessive.  We parked easily, got our time chips, and then just kind of stood around for a while.  Finally, around 7:15 (the race started at 8:00) I went for a little warm up jog.  This was the first time that I had every actually warmed up in this way before a race.  I truly think that it was the key to setting the PR.  It was nothing major.  Just about a mile and a half in about 14 minutes.  It stands to reason.  My regular weekly runs rarely start off strong.  It's only after I've been out for a mile or two that I fall into a rhythm.

The Full Moon Run is very much an event.  Nearly two thousand runners, a Led Zeppelin cover band, jupiter jumps in various different shapes for the kids, and free beer for the runners afterwards.  Once the run is over, runners, their families and friends stay for who knows how long to enjoy the party.  I enjoy this aspect of the race.  What I don't enjoy is the starting line and the lack of etiquette (I'm talking to you walkers!) on the part of those who should very clearly be further back.  Look, I'm not a speed demon.  I'm not an elite runner, so I don't line up with those guys at the very front.  I line up further back so that they can have room to run just as the woman who was walking not 50 yards from the start of the race.  Anyhow, once I got a little room to run, I took off. 

I wasn't sure from the beginning if I was going to be able to maintain this pace.  I debated as to whether or not to back off.  But I persevered.  At the 1k mark my watch said 4:30.  I knew I was in good shape based on that time, because the last couple of times I had been at pretty much 5:00 flat for the first kilometer.  I just tried to maintain that pace and take advantage of any downhill stretches to steal a couple of seconds.  After 3k I was starting to feel a little drained.  I took the foot of the gas a little at that point; however, once I started the the last kilometer I was at something like 17 minutes which was a 4:15 average kilometer.  I honestly didn't take the time to do that math while I was running.  All I knew was that I had 6:39 to run that last k and set the PR.  And, I don't know, I was able stay strong and maintain a relatively strong pace to finish in.....wait for it.....21:26!  Honestly, I was hoping for 22 flat at best.  God is good.  I though that I was really going to have to put the brakes on for the last 2k, but I had enough left in the tank to take a samurai sword and wallop 2:14 off of my previous PR.