5k rehearsal

I thought it was strange when the coaches for our running group told us that we would be doing a rehearsal for our March 30th 5k. After all, we're not putting on a stage production!  But now that we've done it, I think it was a great idea.

It was a beautiful day, and I could run without my jacket.

The 5k race we'll be doing is the Piece of Cake 5k at Seneca Creek State Park. It's generally a 10k but this is the first year they've added in a 5k option. The race director came out to run with us as well so she could try out the new 5k course.

It was a hilly course so it was great we had this opportunity to do a rehearsal. I never thought about it before but familiarizing yourself with a course really helps. I like that I'll know where I'm going on race day and have certain markers for myself to help with distance, pacing, etc. I also don't have to worry about getting lost race morning or wondering where the parking lots are.

I did much better than I thought i would.  I had repeatedly heard about this being a hilly course so I was a bit worried. My goal for the race was to try to finish in 45 minutes or less. Well, I finished in the rehearsal in 42:33 for 3.19 miles according to runkeeper. That means I need a new goal for race day itself :) I'm not going to get too ambitious so I think I'm just going to try to at least match my rehearsal time.

This was  also the first time we didn't have defined walk intervals. I ran 30 minutes in a row, which is the more than I've ever run without a break before. After 30 minutes, I took a walk break up a hill, which was less than a minute. I finished by running until the end.  This was definitely a good thing for me because before this run, I wasn't sure that I could run this long without a walk break. So that was the other purpose of the rehearsal, it gave me an added level of confidence for race day.

We ended the run with St. Patrick's Day cupcakes.  Does anyone else try to run a course before race day for local races?