She Runs by the Seashore

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Apparently, I have a hidden talent of being able to predict my race times pretty accurately.

Last weekend, at the I Thought They Said Rum Free 5K Fun Run, I was seven seconds away from my time prediction. Today, at the Five on 25 Fun Run & Prediction Challenge, I was 11 seconds away from the time I predicted.

The Eastern Shore Running Club, of which I’m secretary, hosted the Five on 25 event today — June 25. It was a five-mile course; the event and course were created by my boyfriend Mike, the president of the running club. Although you could say I have a bias, particularly since I also helped to promote the run, I had a lot of fun at today’s event.

It wasn’t technically a race, but I kind of treated it like one. The time I predicted — 47:40 — was not extremely fast for me, but still a faster pace than I would run on my own, particularly given the course’s three hills and a section on the mountain bike trails in the Salisbury City Park. The course included the Salisbury City Park and some surrounding roads.

Since my boyfriend designed the course, I knew what to expect and that it would be tougher than the average Salisbury course. Being in June, I also was expecting some heat. While it certainly wasn’t cool, I definitely felt like it could have been hotter. We started a little after 8:10 a.m. I helped check people in and could also see what others had predicted.

As I didn’t wear a watch, I really didn’t know what my pace was as I ran. It was hard to tell by feel, because I couldn’t go the same pace during all sections of the course. For example, I’m sure I went much slower during the mountain bike trail portion of the course, on the Big Oak Trail. As a side note, I even saw a turtle on the course, which was cool.

Although I didn’t feel like I was completely giving it everything I had — I knew my predicted time was not a completely-going-all-out pace — my legs were sore as I ran. This is the 27th day of the Runner’s World Run Streak, and my 31st day of running in a row.

With a loop around at the end, by the time I saw the clock, it was at 47-something. This was good, since I’d predicted 47:40. I didn’t speed up at the end, but I also didn’t slow to a walk, or anything like that, and ended up with a time of 47:29.

Thirteen runners participated, and I ended up being the closest to my predicted time, although a lot of people were pretty close to their times. There were plenty of prizes to go around, and I picked a pair of running socks as my prize.

It was free to participate; runners were asked to bring a food or toiletry donation.

We also had food, coffee and water for runners afterward.

Feel free to join the Eastern Shore Running Club at other events. I lead club runs around the Salisbury City Park every Tuesday from the Ben’s Red Swings parking lot at 6 p.m. Follow us on Facebook to keep up with what we’re doing. To become a member or order a shirt, go here.

Like She Runs by the Seashore on Facebook here.