Run Away with Cirque du Soleil 5k

I was pretty excited for this race, I had participated twice before, and remember this being a fun event, lots of performers from the Cirque events, just a good time. It was also my first race with my team, Ninja Endurance Racing. There were 11 of us there, and the support was amazing.  We walked the course ahead of time, to get an understanding of the layout and pacing. Although I was a week out from a half marathon, I was also hoping to go sub30 on this 5k, for the first time ever, despite the approximate 1,500 participants on an out and back course.
Our team DESTROYED this event. First place, second female overall, 4th overall, many placed in age groups, and two of us hit a PR. So much winning, we took home the Team Championship award! 
Isn’t is shiny?! 
I actually thought I started my GPS app, and realized at mile 1.5, it never started. I honestly think on this race, not knowing my pace was a blessing. Mile 2 is a slow steady incline. But, thanks to working with the team, I was prepared. For some reason, I was very thirsty on this run, and stopped at an aid station L.  However, not for long. I have been very tired lately, (I’ll blog this later) and didn’t feel like I was on point. I quick looked at the time on my phone, and was actually doing okay time and pace wise. When I was coming in to the finish and could finally see the clock… it read 28:44! I had 15 seconds to get to that finish line to sub29, I gave it ALL I HAD!  I finished in 28:54. Imagine how excited I was!!! I by the way, am still excited.  This accomplishment is huge. I saw my coach’s two children, and went to them, asking where she was, and they said, she went back out for you and Karen… turns out, she headed out for me, right after I crossed the finish line, so we never saw each other. I was so fast, she missed me, lol. My friend Karen, she PR’d as well. A good day indeed. We then got a team photo with the Cirque people:
Aren’t we a motley looking bunch!
Unfortunately, they had a few issues after that…. timing issues that they did straighten out, my chip didn’t initially register so they had no time for me at first, this was then corrected. And, for some reason, it took 2 hours to get to the awards portion. At that point, I was STARVING, so we headed to breakfast. YUM…. So, imagine our surprise when one of our leaders called to say we won the team award!  We didn’t know they had one, more of the group met us for breakfast so we could marvel at our award. 
Not the best organization, but a great team performance… and, I officially have a sub29 5k on the books!!  AMAZING!!!!!!!!