Melon Run Race Recap

July 4^th not only was a celebration of Independence Day but it also marked the start of racing season for me.  I’ve taken 2.5 months off of races to give myself a rest.  I haven’t done more than a 6 miler in training since Iron Girl in April.   I was excited for the Melon Run.  I ran this race last year as my second 5K and finished strong in 30:10.  My only goal this year was to beat that time. 

Leading up to the race my training has been going so-so.  I really doubted I’d make my goal as my pace hasn’t been faster than a 10 min/mile in a while due to the heat and inconsistent training.  It’s difficult to get all of my runs in when it’s 90 degrees outside and all of my traveling that I’ve been doing.  I prepared myself to just be happy to finish and not worry about pace as I knew training hadn’t been ideal. 

The weather race day was perfect.  No rain, a bit of sunshine but enough clouds to keep from dying during the run.  A little over 400 runners showed up for the run, which is an awesome turnout for a local race.  It was my first race as a Fit2Run Ambassador.  It was nice seeing familiar faces at the race.  When I first started running I often did races alone but that is no longer the case, as I always seem to find either a Fit2Run Ambassador or team runDisney member to meet up with race day.

As everyone gathered to the start line I placed myself in the middle of the pack.  I didn’t want to get trampled and didn’t want to be dodging too much either.  That worked out well for me because I don’t remember having too much difficulty passing people.  I thought I was running at a slightly slower than training pace until I reached the one mile mark and heard my Nike update.  I ran the first mile in 9:03, which was a significantly faster pace than I’ve been running the past month.  I was pleasantly surprised by my pace and was even more surprised at how great I felt after the first mile.  The plan was to switch to intervals after the first mile but since I felt so great I kept running and didn’t rely on the intervals.  I stopped to walk for water but that was about it.  I ended up finishing in 27:31.  I met my goal!  I beat last year’s time :)

I had a great time and my only complaint is that the race shirts were only in men sizes.  The x-small is even a bit big for me.  I can wear it but I don’t think I’d run it.  This is a bummer because I liked the design this year.  I’m not sure why they didn’t offer women’s sizes like last year as there were slightly more women runners than male runners. 

Last year's shirt

This year's shirt

After the race I treated myself to some delicious watermelon and met up with the other Fit2Run Ambassadors.  We cheered on the kids during the 1 mile kid race.  I loved this!  One boy finished in 7 minutes.  That’s faster than my fastest mile.  Impressive to say the least. 

1 Mile Kid Race

My next race is a 10K in August.  Hopefully it’ll be just as fun!