San Dieguito 5k Race Report

Coach Dirk's pre-race instructions: Go out hard, then hang on for dear life.

Rabbit Jeffrey's comment while easing some of my semi-ridiculous pre-race fears:
Me: Well, what if I shart myself.
Jeffrey: Welll, that would be awesome!

And onto the race itself...
In the photo below, I am the one floating next to Jeffrey. The first mile is a nice downhill.

I knew we had to to hold 5:45 pace to get me under 18. We went through the first mile in 5:32. All good.

At mile two Jeffrey started to pull ahead. Hang on. Hang on. Hang on. He did an awesome job of making me laugh, all while I concentrated on breathing. And seriously, if someone showed up to pace you in an awesome pink outfit - wouldn't it motivate you to dig deeper?! It did for me.

My view.

At the bottom of the final mile uphill I glanced at my watch. We were spot-on 5:45 avg. pace. Ruh-roh. Long hill looming ahead . . . maybe I can dig deeper. Just a few more minutes. DO WORK! Why is Jeffrey getting further away? Oh dear, move legs. Lungs breathe! You can view a video of us finishing here, I'm working hard and Jeffrey is "jogging".

Done! I did not die. Or shart myself.

Thanks to Mauricio of ZeroD for some of the photos!

:45 short of my goal, I came in 1st female at 18:44. I am more motivated than ever to chase that PR. (Pink Rabbit).