I absolutely detest 5k races, and even more so after participating in Saturday’s 5k Spring Break run on Kadena Airbase. The event, which was organized by Risner Fitness Center, began at 7am sharp and entailed a 3 mile lap which basically circled the fitness center and surrounding area. I’m not really sure why I entered this event, considering my intense dislike for 5k races, but I’m guessing my modest third place victory in the Tengan 10k race two weeks prior was probably the underlying factor behind my decision. I suppose I was feeling a touch more confident than usual, and I was also curious to see how I would fare in a shorter, but faster-paced event.

I was told that registrations would start at 6:15am so I left my house around 6am and drove the short ten minute distance to Risner Fitness Center. Hardly anyone was there when I arrived so I began to wonder if I had got the date wrong. But after parking my car and scanning the carpark I saw a few staff members setting up a table beside the smaller O’Connell gym. I wandered over and enquired about the event and was informed that I did indeed have the correct date and that most runners tended to arrive around twenty minutes or so prior to the start time. It was a small, informal event, and held on a monthly basis, so the registration process was a short “write your name on the sign-up sheet.”

With more than thirty minutes to wait before the run kicked off, I decided to warm up my muscles by doing a few leisurely-paced laps of the nearby track; this also helped to calm my nerves. I shouldn’t have been nervous though, as this was after all more of a fun event and not really intended for competitive runners. But as I mentioned previously, I was curious to see how well I could handle a shorter, faster-paced run and I had no intention of running this event just for “fun.” I wasn’t the only one who felt this way either; when it came time to line up it was obvious by the maneuvering of certain participants to place themselves in the front of the pack, that they were also there to race. So when the announcement was made to “GO,” I quickly lined myself up behind the front runners and fell into as fast and as comfortable a pace as possible.

The initial part of the course was relatively flat and easy and I could see that there were maybe a dozen or so runners ahead of me and only two  of those were females. I figured I could be the third female to finish if I managed to keep my pace consistent. As the second mile approached we headed towards a long downhill slope which prompted me to pick up my pace a little and run slightly faster. The front-leading female began to slow her pace at this point and she was quickly overtaken by the second-leading female. As the gap began to close between myself and the girl who had now fallen into second place, I realized that I could probably edge myself into second place if I picked up the pace even more. But I probably ran the downhill slope a little too fast, as even though I moved into second place amongst the females, I quickly started to feel depleted of energy and a little nauseous.

The last part of the course was horrendous; the course was a circle, hence following the downhill was an uphill rise which completed the three miles. I’m not good on hills nor do I like hills, and had I checked out the route prior to the event and known that the course included a hill, I probably would have stayed home. But there was no turning back now and I had to get up the dreaded hill to reach the finish line. Up until this point some guy had been tailing me all the way down the hill, along the flat road that led to the hill, and then up the hill for just a few meters when he finally overtook me. I wanted to quit and lay down right there on the side of the road but instead all I could do was slow down to catch my breath and keep from passing out. I’m not sure how much time passed before I started to feel a little more in control, but as soon as I was able, I steadied my concentration and focused firmly on the final two hundred or so meters ahead of me. As I reached the top of the hill and hit level ground, I was spurred on by staff members and those runners who had already finished. I mustered up the last ounce of strength I could find and made a mad dash for the finish line, I did it!

My time: 21:22 / Second female / Sixth overall