Race Report: LiveStrong 5K (Kate Hudson kicked my butt)

This morning I ran the LiveStrong 5K. It's the first time to be held here in San Jose and it was pretty cool. It was also smaller than I expected with less than 3,000 participants total. It was mostly a biking event with 10, 50, 65 & 100 mile bike rides and then a 5K run/walk. It was cool because they had separate bibs for the cancer survivors. It's always inspiring to see them at races. By the way, they each received a yellow rose at the finish.

Anyway, I almost didn't make the race this morning because I completely slept through my alarm (jet lag, I guess). I wanted to leave the house by 6AM and didn't wake up until 6:40AM. Luckily, I managed to get there in time BUT not in time to pick up a timing chip so no recorded time for me. :(

I politely squeezed my way to the front so my time wouldn't be too off in case they were collecting bib tags for unofficial times at the finish (they didn't.) I think my body was still asleep as I was kind of in zombie mode when waiting for the race to start. So I was pleasantly surprised to see Lance Armstrong take the stage for welcome remarks (duh, of course he would be there!). Afterward, he got on his bike to join the other 100-mile cyclists as they were the first group to start. (Not a very big group from what I could tell.)

While we were cheering on all the other cyclists, I noticed another 5K runner pointing at someone to her friend. I followed her gaze and surprise, surprise - it was Kate Hudson! She was literally less than 10 feet away from me at the front of the 5K group. Funny thing is that I had noticed her earlier, only because she was wearing those Goody bendy barrettes that I always wear to the gym but never see on anyone else.

Anyway, I didn't want to gawk at her too much but here's what I can tell you. She totally seemed like a cool, down to earth gal. Her hair was tied up in a casual bun and she was wearing a pretty basic running outfit. She was running with a friend and I *think* she was escorted by a plain clothes San Jose cop that ran behind her. (I saw him enter a San Jose cop trailer after the race.) For the most part, she pretty much blended in with everyone else. She seemed as cute as you would expect her to be from her movies as she was smiling and dancing along with the music as we were waiting.

Finally, it was our turn to line-up. As usual, I started out way too fast. I'll admit, I was kind of running slightly behind Miss Kate as celebrity spotting does not really happen where I live. As we were running, I glanced down at my Garmin and saw I was running a 7:30 pace - oops!!! I normally target a ~9:00 pace for 5Ks so I had to give up my stalking and lower my pace instead.

The course was a loop through downtown San Jose and was nice and flat. I was also happy to see that the mile markers perfectly aligned with my Garmin which never happens. I finished the first mile in 8:33 and since I wasn't very well trained at this point, I knew I had overexerted myself and was going to have to slow down a lot more for the rest of the race. Plus the sun was out then and it was a little too warm for me. (I know, I'm such a baby when it comes to heat.) I ended up stopping for water at the halfway point which I normally never do when I run a 5K.

I tried to pick it up for the last half mile and crossed the finish in 28:22 with a 9:10 pace.

Splits:

1: 8:33
2: 9:43
3: 9:20
0.1: 8:20 pace

Overall, I'm pretty happy with my performance. I think I've run maybe twice in the last month and neither of them were that great. When I first registered, I thought I could get a new 5K PR since it was a flat course. Although that didn't happen, this was still my second best 5K time - not bad considering I took a walk/water break. Still kind of bummed that I won't have a recorded result, but oh well!