Another Sunday, another DSE race. After discovering this hidden gem glaringly obvious oldest running club in San Francisco last weekend, I was back for more bright and early this morning.

The high point of 30 days of sobriety? (Today is day 21 if you’re keeping track as obsessively as I am.) Even if you stay out until 2am and go to bed at 3:15am with a 7am alarm set… you wake up feeling impossibly refreshed. I only hit snooze once then beelined to the Keurig (which, bless its little caffeine filled heart seems to be past it’s “acting out” phase”).

We were out late last night celebrating a very good friend’s (and soon-to-be GROOM!) birthday, and I didn’t get to bed until well past 3am. Woops. But alas being off the sauce for 3 weeks has given me energy I never knew I could summon.

I had a cup of black coffee with cinnamon, grabbed a mini Luna bar (Peanut Butter Cookie today, much better choice than last week’s Lemon Zest), my tune belt, phone, Garmin, and credit card/ID and hit the road.

It was glorious being up and about when the city was just waking up. I made it over to Golden Gate Park in ~15 minutes, found a parking spot a quarter-mile from the start, and strolled over. Registration, as always was seamless and took about 47 seconds. I did a mini jog around the block to wake my muscles up (not like they even went to sleep since I got so little of it) and finally ran into the lovely Cate! (Who placed 5th amongst the women and got a pretty little prize ribbon!)

We lined up at the start and suddenly, we were off! I wasn’t sure how this was going to work because I’ve um, never done a 5K before. I was used to starting off steady, but not sprinting, and then pushing hard at the end (in a half-marathon, the only race distance I have 5+ experiences in!) This was a bit different… everyone took off like a bat outta hell.

My iPod was ready to rock, my Garmin was satellite located, so I just did what any first timer does… I followed the pack and ran as fast as I could. The weather was just about perfect, but honestly a little chilly for my liking. The air was cold, and I could feel it in my lungs. It was either that or I’ve never run that fast for 3 straight miles before and my lungs went into shock and wanted to shut down. To-may-to, To-mah-to.

After last week’s 10 glorious sub-9:00 miles, and my tempo run on Friday, I was feeling ambitious. Overly ambitious maybe, but I wanted to push myself nonetheless. It was 3.1 miles. Let’s try for all 3 sub-8:00′s.

Mission freaking accomplished.

(Apparently the course was .02 short?)

Mile 1 started off at a much-too-fast-to-keep-up 6:40 pace, and I quickly dropped that down to the very low 7:00′s. It was tough, but not unbearable. Running fast isn’t supposed to feel like sunshine and puppies and rainbows right? (If it is, someone tell me because I’m clearly doing it wrong.)

Mile 2 I felt like I hit my stride, and got more comfortable. It was a fantastic feeling knowing that after 2 miles, I only had 1 more to go. I could get used to this running fast thing after all.

Mile 3 the wheels almost fell off. My Garmin actually did fall off, so I had to frantically stop to grab it try to put it back on, screw it, and just run with it in my hands. I had put it on loosely thinking I may want to take my long-sleeve off after the race started (I did), so I figured this would make it easier (it didn’t). Somehow not tucking the strap in its rightful place (who knew?) was a bad move, and it came unhinged. Thankfully, I did not.

Not kidding about the stopping. Oh what sub-23:00 could have been.

I was not going to let those sub-8:00′s slip away, so I pushed hard the last mile, Garmin in a death grip to the finish.

Garmin Time? 23:32

I feel fantastic about that time. It was my first 5K, I achieved all sub-8:00 miles (barely), and had another excellent experience with DSE Races. I’m already looking forward to the next one!

Oh also – new running songs to note:

Boyfriend has excellent taste in music. I have excellent taste in the iTunes Top 100. Therefore I look to him for quality playlists that don’t look like that of a high school sophomores. I’m newly obsessed with Ellie Goulding. She also performed at the Royal Wedding Reception. I’m not sure if that makes me like her or Kate Middleton more.

With that it’s time for brunch and a relaxing Sunday. Hope your weekend is ending on a high note! (And you’re enjoying this amazing SF weather!)