A Day O'Lucky

WOOOHOOO!!! Is all I can say. I can't even begin to describe how happy that I am about my race today. This was my 4th annual race at the South Boston St. Patty's Day 5K. Since it's not a very competitive race I was hoping to go into the race and win it all, I was 2nd place female last year. That was until I found out that 2 of my teammates were going to run in it, so I knew that I clearly wasn't going to get that, both girls have far more strength in the distance area. I accepted that fact and instead decided to focus on #1 dropping my time from last year.

The race started off way too fast for my pace, I realized that quickly and settled back a bit. As I dropped the speed my teammate had said to me- 'You better be #3'. I hit mile 1 at 6:12, typical 1st mile split, fast but I didn't fell too strained. Rounded the statue chugged up the hill, split mile 2 at 6:30, surprisingly more even than it usually is. Basically I had been running by myself up until this point with a few guys sporadically passing me or vice versa. Then right after I passed the 2 mile mark I heard one of the spectators yell go #3 and 4. That's when I was made aware that there was a girl coming up on me. All that flashed through my head was #3, #3, #3, I didn't even care at that point what my time was, I was going to be the third female to come in. I felt her come up on my shoulder then she slightly got a step ahead. Randomly, I haven't a clue why I did it, but I said out loud "I don't think so" then proceeded to pick up the pace. She stayed on my back for the last mile and everytime she got too close I speed up. I was simply determined not to let her get past me. Once we rounded one of the last corners with about 300 meters to go I knew that she had nothing on me, I've got to hand it to my kick it's the thing that always comes through in the end. So in the end I got my #3 place. But that's not the only greatness that came out of the race. I had thought when I crossed the finish line that the clock had said 20:00. I was excited because it was a lifetime PR in the 5K but just slightly bummed because all last fall I was determined to break the 20 min barrier and this time I was actually sooooo close. Well folks my happy ending was granted because the race results had me clocked in at 19:59. I can't even tell you how elated, joyed, crazy happy I was.

It turned to be a fun and rewarding race. The 3 of us went 1, 2 & 3 for the females, the one that came in first won the entire race (yeah she's good). Go GBTC gals!!! And I also took home the metal for 1st South Boston female resident. Go ME!! I can only hope that this is just a glimpse into how the outdoor season's going to be. Here I come PR's.

119 24:24 7:52 23 20-29 34 F144 Deanna Clark S.Boston,MA (2005)
149 25:07 8:06 30 20-29 44 F130 Deanna Clark S.Boston,MA (2006)
16 21:02 6:47 2 20-29 2 F166 Deanna Clark Boston,MA (2007)
24 19:59 6:27 3 20-29 3 F506 Deanna Clark S. Boston,MA (2008)