I ran in the Latrobe Firecracker 5 miler. This was my first 5 mile race. I decided to treat it pretty much like I did with my last 10K since the distance was somewhat similar. I started off pretty quick but I got a little bogged down with the crowd (close to 400 people). I did my first mile in 7:46. After that, we hit a steady uphill through some neighborhoods. I refused to walk for even one step even though my legs were BURNING! There was a nice downhill at the 3.75 mile mark and even though, it was only about a quarter mile long, I gained some time there. During my last mile, the BLACK storms clouds appeared and I could hear thunder in the distance. I booked it to the finish for a time of 42:09 (8:25 pace).

I am happy with my time because I really thought I'd be closer to 45:00. My aunt finished a little less than a minute after me with a time of 43:03. For some reason, my GPS had the course at 5.06 miles and her GPS said 4.99 miles. Maybe I took my turns too wide?

I looked at the Run high results and I was 5th in my age out of 36 ladies. If the age brackets had been the usual 30-34 instead of 31-40, I would have left with some bling...Better luck next time!