Liberty 5K: With Liberty & Waffles for All!

Once upon a time, I signed up for a 5K on the 4th of July and it changed my life forever.  The Liberty by the Lake 5K is my Runnerversary and has become my unofficial Running Thanksgiving.  I ran this race for the first time five years ago--a wide-eyed running rookie who just wanted to run the entire 3.1 miles without walking.  I showed up in the cotton race shirt with non-running shoes and I gave it my all.  I had no idea how life changing those 3.1 miles would be. I ran that first race in 34:41 and was ridiculously proud of myself.  A few years later, this race was my first age group award and it has become the prelude to Life, Liberty, and Waffles--the post race party that Mr K and I host at our house each year.  You can see why it holds a special place in my running heart.

Traditional Pre-Race Group Shot (pic by Mama C)

We caught a little bit of a break with the heat as it was somewhere around 75 degrees at race time.  I know better than to hope for a PR during the summer months, but I was hoping that I could beat my time from last year and at least get a course PR. Boy do 5Ks make me nervous, give me a half marathon any day! I had been in a bit of a running funk since Cow Creek and wasn't feeling very confident in my abilities.  I set out with the plan to run hard and try to keep my mile splits just under 8:00.  I was able to get a pretty decent start and began to focus on locking down a pace.  The first mile really wasn't so bad and my watch chimed a 7:50.  Perfect....everything was going according to plan.  The second mile felt harder, but I began to see Mr K ahead of me and steadily caught up with him.  My watch chimed 7:47 for the second mile...dang, this is not getting any easier.  I think that the third mile of a 5K is one of the hardest things ever.  At this point I am feeling tired, both mentally and physically, and everything in my body wants me to stop.  There is alot of self talk: you've come too far to quit now, if you slow down all the energy that you have invested so far will be wasted, and let's just get this finished.  I knew that I was running a great race and that I was right on target with my goals....my watch chimed 7:50 for the third mile, time to turn on the jets.  It was all happening too fast for me to know how close to my PR I was, but I knew that I was on track to come in under 25:00.  I gave it all that I had for a strong finish and was very pleased when I saw the time on my watch -- 24:36.  This was good enough for a new course record and I only missed my PR by 14 seconds. I was over the moon thrilled with my race execution.  Nope, it wasn't that dreamed of PR, but it was my most well run 5K to date. I consider consistency to be a cornerstone of my training, and the splits don't get much more consistent than that.  It was just what I needed to help me snap my funk and start to find my running mojo again.  I missed an AG award by 12 seconds, but felt very pleased to come in 4th out of 31 women in my age bracket, 21st amongst all women, and 88th overall.

Marci, Daniel, Me, Brian L, Mama C, and Fred (pic by Mama C)

After the race and the awards we made our way back to our house for waffles, bacon, mimosas, and frunners.  It is our third year to host this shindig and I'm fairly certain that our house set a PR for the number of people within its walls.

The Waffle Chef (pic by Mama C)

Mr K has perfected his waffle timing and we even had Fred frying up bacon out on the grill.  My cup overfloweth, y'all.  I love to pause and look around at all the faces here and realize that running has brought them into my life. 

The nice weather even allowed us to use the patio

I am very lucky to count myself amongst such an extraordinary group of friends.  They push me to take on new challenges and to be a stronger, better person.  July 4th has become one of my favorite days of the year....all because I took a step outside of my comfort zone and signed up for a race five years ago.