Running of the Bulls 8k Recap

I woke up this morning and for the first time in over a week there was NO pain in my hip!

Horray!!!

Good thing too since I had the Running of the Bulls 8k to run. (I super don't get this race distance. Tack on an extra 0.03 miles and call it a 5 miler. Whatevs) I was excited to run this race since it is put on my favorite running store and I have heard great things about it.

I woke up this morning bright and early and was excited to see that the rain had dried up and the weather was brisk and not so humid. I had my coffee and toast and was out the door.

I got there a little early so I had plenty of time to get up close and personal with my Body Glide and stretch out my hip a little bit. My legs felt fresh and I was ready to go.

I also had enough time for cheese
ball self portraits. 

I didn't know what to think going into this race. I have not run any runs longer than 3 miles in 2 weeks and my hip has been bothering me for over a week. I have not run in the 5 days preceding this event. My goal for the race was to beat my Turkey Trot time from last year (56:45). I wasn't sure how this was going to go.

As the gun went off I was situated in the back of the pack because I had a feeling this was going to be a slow day. Unfortunately I noticed after a half mile that my Garmin was not timing me so my time on my watch was a little off. That continued to bug me for the rest of the race. The first mile and a half or so were flat or down hill. I was feeling pretty good.

I made it to the first water stop just around the mile 2 marker and walked through it to get some gatorade. After this it was difficult to keep a consistent effort going and ended up pretty much run/walking it to the end. Miles 3 and 4 were definitely not so pretty but for the last 0.97 mile I really tried to finish strong. Good crowd support towards the end and a down hill finish were a nice touch.

We ended with a lap in the Durham Athletic Park - the former home of the Durham Bulls minor league baseball team and made famous by the movie Bull Durham.

Thank God it was an old (read: very small) stadium, because
I gave it all I had in the final lap.

Immediately after the finish, I was greeted with this.

Yes Please! (Spoiler: That's not
Vitamin Water in there!)

Local craft brews served as a post race refreshment at 8:30am. Best Race Ever!

Oh look! Another self portrait. Good beer!

My final time was 56:58. Not great. 13 seconds slower than my last 8k. But coming off an injury and hardly any running, I should have expected that. I have a lot of fitness work to do as I get closer and closer to my next half marathon training cycle.

All in all, although my goal was not met, I ran (and walked) pain free. On to the next!