Candlelight 5K

This past Saturday I ran the Shriner's Hospital Candlelight 5K in Greenville, SC. It was incredible race for both Mark and me. I actually was very tired that night, and when we got there and I saw the 1/2 mile straight up hill ending, I kind of psyched myself out. Then the announcer kept saying it wasn't an easy race, every other half mile went from downhill to up. At that point I knew the big uphill ending was my big downhill beginning, so I decided to just try and get my fastest mile ever and then just see how I could finish. Surprise, at 1 mile my time was 6:36, my fastest ever..so I made a deal to push myself a little more, and kept making deals throughout the race. I have to admit that about mile two with a huge hill, I felt terrible and I think I left a lung there, but I kept pushing. Since it was dark, I couldn't see my watch, so I just ran it old school. When I was killing myself up that last big hill and Mark came to meet me for my finish ( he always does) I looked up and saw the clock at the finish said 22 minutes. I thought I had to go past and turn around, but Mark was telling me to sprint, this was the end. PR....23.17 actual finish, 23.24 gun time. My fastest 1 mile, my fastest 5K, and my fastest sprint time ever. I ended up 5th in my age group, with less than a minute between 1st and 5th place. By the way, Mark rocked his PR too 19.42 actual finish, 19.49 gun