Race Recap: Chili Bowl Classic 5K - 20:22

This morning I successfully kicked-off racing season with the Hermes Cleveland Chili Bowl Classic 5K at Tower 230 Bar & Grille in downtown CLE. I did this race last year in 21:18 and wanted to run it again and see if I could better my time.

The morning started off with me rolling out of bed at 7:15am to shower and eat some breakfast. My vegan pre-race meal of toasted Ezekiel bread with Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter, a clementine, banana and water did me well!

 

Breakfast of Champions

The hubs was gracious enough to be my taxi service cheerleader for the day, and drove me to the city. Upon arrival, I scored my race packet which included this cute shirt! I’m a sucker for cotton long-sleeved tees and the color gray. I just may also have an affinity for logos that showcase vegetables with faces and are running (see bottom right hand corner of tee).

 

Can't beat running chili peppers!

While the hubs was graciously out hunting down a parking space, I decided to stretch for a bit prior to heading out for my 20 minute warm-up. I managed to bump into a buddy of mine, Raymond!

Check out that post-race glow!

Before I knew it, it was time to toe the starting line. I dropped my outerwear off to the hubs who was comfortably sitting at the bar and watching Sportscenter. Rough life. Before I could steal a good luck smooch and head out the door, I witnessed utter ridiculousness. Up to the bar came a 70-year-old man clad in 1980′s style running tights (think black tights with red, teal, white, yellow and purple paint splatters all over them – they were SERIOUSLY awesome, I wish I had some!), paired with a camouflage long-sleeve shirt, who ordered a shot of Jagermeister. I wish I was joking. He must have caught the look of sheer horror shock on my face and said ‘What? It’s cold outside!’. He downed the shot, shouted something in German, and followed it up with a joyous ‘WOO HOO!’ and bolted out the bar door to the starting line. Baller status.

After some giggles, I headed out the door as well. It was go time!

I had intentions of trying to run fast today, but I didn’t know how fast, especially with the insane headwind at the start. Seriously, this was the strongest wind I’ve ever run in. I’m not kidding. After the gun went off, it felt like no time before I rolled through my first mile: 6:22. I seriously thought they had mis-measured the course, there was no way I just busted out a 6:22, in the wind. I grunted through mile 2 at 12:59 and finished in 20:22. An overall pace of 6:34 per mile and a PR by 3 seconds. Holy #*@!. I couldn’t believe it myself. I was just hoping for sub-21:00! HOLLA!!!

Post race, I did a 20 minute cool down, and refueled with some H2O and some vegetarian chili. Props for thinking of us veg heads!

I'm a No Meat Athlete!

Turns out I placed 4th overall for the females and 1st in my age group! Not too shabby!

I really feel like one of my goals for the year, to go sub 20:00 in the 5K is completely attainable. I look forward to seeing what I can produce throughout this race season!

Next race: The Last Chance for Boston 13.1 on February 27th!