Race Report: Kirkland 5k

My journey to this race was a some what interesting one. I knew I wanted to do a half marathon this year, but I did not want to pay the really high fee to run in Seattle RNR. I decided to sign up for the Kirkland half marathon instead. It was much easier to get to and I could do the 5k instead, if finding time to train was too difficult. I signed up back in December thinking May sounded so far away and a training for a half could be feasible. Well February quickly came around and my regular running schedule was no where close where it needed to be to train for a half, much less one as difficult as Kirkland. The 5k it is.

As it was, the 5k was even difficult to do. For medical reasons I had to take almost 3 weeks off from running. I was nervous to do such a hilly run. When I woke up this morning I really wanted to stay in bed. I contemplated for a second about skipping it, but I had a friend meeting me at the finish. I also had to go for a run anyway, so I might as well run a race. Of course Hailey chose to sleep in until seven, making me miss out on an opportunity to sleep in.

Once I had my coffee my outlook changed, but I was still dreading running up Market Street, which is at least a half mile up hill. Before I knew it I was kissing my husband and kiddo good bye to walk down to the starting line.

Lining up in the race corral I got really excited. It was a beautiful day in Seattle and about 62 degrees at the start of the race. I got a little emotional thinking about how it was Mother's Day and what a cool tradition it would be to run the race every year, thinking one day Hailey might join me. I honestly had to keep my eyes from tearing up.

The race started on time and the first part of the course lead along one of my usual three mile routes, from the Juanita Bay Park to the bridge and up Market Street. I usually do not go all the way up Market though. It was a killer. Many people stopped to walk at that point (I would say this is not very fast race, anyone really serious runs the half. I lined up in the front of the 8 to 10 minute mile group and did not have a lot of people passing me). I slowed down to my distance running pace. I stopped to walk for about 20 yards, but other than that I ran the whole way up. The nice part of making it up, the rest of the run is down hill most of the way back

I really think this is one of the hilliest 5ks around. Maybe only a mile of it is flat and the course really zig zags through the neighborhoods (and a lot of really nice houses). I had a beautiful view of Lake Washington for part of it. It would be so nice to wake up to that every morning.

By the time I hit mile two I was getting pretty tired. We hit the straight away I run on all the time. I struggled to keep motivation to run quickly. Then a mom passed me with a double stroller and an infant who could not be any more than three months old. I felt like a slacker. After I made the turn for the last .4 miles to the finish I was able to kick it up a notch and at the end I sprinted to beat out a guy running just in front of me. I finished with a time of 31:59 and a pace of 10:18 a mile. I'll take it for such a hilly run and that beats out my Valentine's Day Dash bathroom stop time, which was my goal.

All and all,  for a challenging course I recommend this race, probably not for a first 5k, unless walking is an option. For the half finishers, flowers can be ordered to give the finishing moms as they cross the line. Medals are awarded to all the finishers of the half too. Now how sweet is that.