9/11 Memorial 5k

Yesterday morning to memorialize the tenth anniversary of 9/11, I ran the 9/11 Memorial 5k in Sacramento. It was a perfect day for a run, the sky was overcast and there was a cool wind blowing. The temps were in the low 70's.

There were over 3000 race participants. It was an enormous race.

I wore my hot pink running skirt and a white top. My race number was 1030.

After the race each participant was handed an American flag to place next to the name of a first responder that died in the line of duty on 9/11. I placed mine next to the name George Lopez. I didn't know him but we share a last name. It was a very touching scene.

It was amazing to see all these people coming together for the same thing.

Unlike when I ran the 5k Foot Pursuit in June, I ran this race all the way through. I finished in 31:57, 103 in my age group and my pace was 10:18. Not bad at all. I was super happy with the results. I didn't train as hard as I would have liked to for this race but sometimes life is like that.

9/11 Memorial 5k

Tomorrow is the 9/11 Memorial 5k run that I signed up for a couple of months ago. I'm not nervous about the race but I don't feel like I've trained enough for this race. I'm still working on my 10k training but it's been a bit sporatic and honestly only 2 days a week for the most part. Not really the kind of effort that I know I should be putting into it. However as of Tuesday, I'm running 51 minuets without stopping, so I have that going for me.

Last update from Fleet Feet had the participent numbers at over 2500for this race. That's more then double what was in the 5k Foot Pursuit that I ran in June. I'm planning on beating my last race time of 33:42 but with that many people on the course I may have a hard time of it just based on the number of people in the race. However, only time will tell and I will be doing my best to beat my old time.

I like goals. It's fact. I like lists and things I can check off. I like planning ahead. I want to know what's next. Now that my Couch to 5k training is coming to a close, I figured that I should be looking forward to what's next. It's true that I'm already planning my 10k training but I need something more. 10k training can proceed at my own pace with time off for injury or laziness or heatwaves.

I've had my eye on a 5k for a few weeks now. It's not until September 11 but that's plenty of time to get training runs in and work on my speed. Gotta beat that PR of 33:43 from the 5k Foot Pursuit on June 18th. Today I decided to go ahead and commit myself to the September 11th Memorial 5k Run. I've paid my price of admission and I'm in.

This race benefits the Sacramento Area Firefighters Widows and Orphans Fund, The Sacramento Police Widows' and Orphans' Aid Association and the Star 6 Foundation. All really good causes. From the description on the home page of the race, it sounds like it's going to be a huge race. They're planning on handing out flags to each running as they cross the finish line to be planted in the lawn to represent the 3000 people who died during 9/11.

The course is described as flat and fast but honestly, looking at the course map I can already tell you it's not flat. Part of the route is the same as the 5k Foot Pursuit. Between miles 2 and 3 is that same long up hill section that had most of mile 1 from Foot Pursuit. I know that I'm going to be doing some hill training before this race. Now if only I knew where to find some hills.

Besides train, the only thing I can do now is pray for cooler weather in September. It can still be pretty hot around here in September. But this year our weather has been so strange, as evidenced by the rain from last Tuesday (in June!). So I'm hoping that it will be cooler, especially since the race doesn't start until 9:11am which is kinda a late start time.

I'm looking forward to this race and hopefully beating my PR from last race.