It rained all day Saturday, meaning that Piper stayed inside and kept herself busy doing this:

Playful Piper

Mouthful of green

Army-crawling

I, on the other hand, was pleased to discover that even if the weather was gloomy and rainy it was still a full 21° WARMER than the previous Saturday.  After the winter we’ve had I now consider 46° and drizzly to be EXCELLENT running conditions so I decided to take advantage of the (relatively) nice weather by signing up for an afternoon 5K in downtown West Chester, PA.

Seeing as how this was the St. Pat’s 5K, it was only appropriate that race registration occurred in Kildare’s, an Irish-themed pub.  I paid my entry fee, picked up my tech t-shirt, found a hiding spot for said shirt by the bar since I wasn’t planning on wearing it in the race, and headed out for a brief warm up.  Before I knew it I was lining up with 175 other runners and walkers and we were off!  I wasn’t familiar with the course but another runner at the start had explained that it was just two loops of a big square.  Simple enough!

After a winter of hilly 5K courses I would really have liked to PR, but unfortunately I finished just 7 seconds shy of my goal on Saturday.  Nevertheless, I ran what felt like a great race and I am so proud of that third mile split!!! 7:33!

The race finished up a long, gradual hill.  Although I was able to pick up speed going into the finish I wasn’t able to kick quite hard enough to beat my 23:32 PR.  It’s all good though, because my official chip time of 23:40 was good enough for 6th place female and 2nd in my age group!  The age group award was a gift card to Kildare’s so I guess I’ll be returning for an Irish dinner (or drink(s)) in the near future!

Obviously I would have loved to PR, but I’m really not too upset about it, especially because less than 48 hours before the race I was doing this:

HILLS!

Okehocking Ice

The white sign at the very top is 87 feet up.

Crazy, insane trail hill repeats!  There’s a hill at Okehocking Preserve that is roughly a 13% grade… that’s 87 feet gained in elevation over 200 meters of pure, twisting uphill!  I voluntarily chose to run up this hill four times in a row on Thursday and finished up the day with another 2 miles of hilly trails, so overall I’m pretty psyched that I was able to complete Saturday’s race within 7 seconds of my 5K PR!

Plus, this view from the top of another, even higher hill at Okehocking made Thursday’s trail run totally worth it. 😃 #runhappy

The next race that I’m registered for is the final Pickle Run on March 28th but depending on the weather I may sign up for another impromptu race next weekend.  What do you think I should do? A hilly trail 10K on Saturday or a flat 5K Sunday?  Lately I seem to be a glutton for off-road punishment so that trail race is looking sort of appealing…

Miles since last post: 16.5
Days since last post:  4
Avg. Daily Miles since 7/18/13: 4.84
2015 MILES: 345.7

Past Races:
•  March ’15: Athlete’s Closet March 5K (3/7)
•  February ’15: Athlete’s Closet February 5K (2/7), Pickle Trail Run #2 (2/21)
•  January ’15: SRA New Year’s Day 5K (1/1), Athlete’s Closet January 5K (1/3), Pickle Run #1 (1/17)
•  December ’14: Jingle Elf 2 Mile (12/5), Brian’s Run 5 Miler (12/7), Athlete’s Closet Holiday 5K (12/14)
•  November ’14: Trinity Berwyn 5K (11/1)  [PR], Metal Run 5K (11/8), Seven Summits Turkey Trot (11/27)
•  October ’14: Martin’s Run 5K (10/5), Fueled Up & Fired Up 5K (10/18), Bark in the Park 5K (10/25)
•  September ’14: Talk 5K Trail Run (9/13), Run A Muck Trail Race (9/20), Haverford Township 5K (9/27)
•  August ’14: Riddlewood 5K (8/3), Radnor Red Steeplechase (8/17), Pickle in the Streets 5K (8/28) [PR]
•  July ’14: Cam’s ‘Moonlight’ 5K (7/10), Swarthmore Independence Eve 8K (7/18)
•  June ’14: Radnor Conservancy 5K Trail Run (6/1), Media 5 Miler (6/20)
•  May ’14: Elwyn 5K (5/3), Run for Victory 5K (5/18) [PR], Rocky Run 5K Trail Run (5/30)
•  April ’14: Las Vegas Security 5K (4/3/, Rick’s Run 5K (4/19), St. Tim’s 5K (4/26)
•  March ’14: Athlete’s Closet March 5 Miler (3/1), Color Out Cancer 5K (3/30)
•  February ’14: Athlete’s Closet February 5K (2/1)
•  January ’14: Athlete’s Closet January 5K (1/4)
•  December ’13: Athlete’s Closet December 5K (12/14), New Year’s Eve YMCA 5K (12/31) [PR]
•  November ’13: Trinity Presbyterian 5K (11/2), Turkey Trot 5K (11/28)
•  October ’13: Fueled Up & Fired Up 5K (10/19), Oy Vey 5K (10/27) [PR]
•  September ’13: Run-a-Muck 5K (9/21)
•  The Challenge Begins: 100 Mile iPad Mini Challenge (7/23/13)