She Runs by the Seashore

I’ve participated in the Run, White & Blue 5K at Delaware Technical Community College in Georgetown since 2016. I love this race, always held on a Thursday evening, and the massive amounts of food served afterward.

For those past four years, I received a free entry in exchange for blogging about the race. So, even though I’m not super into virtual races, I figured I’d sign up for this one — at a cost of $25 — to support the race and its cause of scholarships for veterans and first responders at the college.

There was a range of dates we could choose from for the virtual 5K, but kind of at the last minute, I decided to start the run on what would have been the original evening of the race, Thursday, Sept. 10. I started a little later than 6 p.m. because I had some trouble editing the race bib.

We were given a bib template and had to edit it ourselves and print it out, but it had a different race name on it. Paper also doesn’t work the best for race bibs, and mine got sweaty, so it would have been better to have an actual bib to wear.

I knew it wouldn’t be a super fast 5K for me, but it would have been nice to maybe have a pace starting with a 9. I had to walk only about 0.4 miles in, and I completed the first mile in 10:01.

After that, it became harder for me to keep up any sort of consistent running pace. I had to walk frequently, and it wasn’t the normal feeling of getting tired in the heat — it felt different.

I had struggled at the Mike Sterling 10K a few days before, as well, and I do think my blood donation nearly two weeks before this 5K was impacting me. It was also a humid evening.

As the run went on, I’m sure I was also getting disappointed, which affected my performance, and not having the in-person race environment does make a difference. My next miles were run in 12:37 and 12:59, with the last bit at 1:14 (10:56 pace).

To give myself an extra push, I ran the Tour de Salisbury course at the Salisbury City Park that I’d been trying to run for speed over the summer. I’ll have to give it another try, as I’m not happy to stop with this 5K time.

I ended up finishing my 3.11 miles in 36:53, an 11:51 pace. I submitted my time to the race director and my results were added to the results listing. There was also a virtual awards ceremony held via Zoom, but I did not attend.

Last year, I ran this 5K in 27:22. I was able to run some virtual 5Ks in the 9s earlier this year, so I’m hoping I just had an off day and was still recovering from the blood donation.

Participants got a hat this year, which I received in the mail after the race. I hope the race was able to raise a good amount of money for scholarships!

Splits

Mile 1: 10:01
Mile 2: 12:37
Mile 3: 12:59
Last part (.11): 1:14 (10:56 pace)
Total: 36:53 / 11:51 pace