Goals: Run for the Yorktown 5K

I decided at the last minute to run the Run for the Yorktown 5K this coming Saturday. It's a fast, flat course and it's close to home at Patriot's Point in Mount Pleasant, so why not?

And of course, I have goals since I know I've improved since my last 5K at the IOP Connector Run. I don't want to go all crazy or anything, but honestly, I'd love to see 25:xx on that clock this Saturday, but I don't know if that's a totally realistic expectation right now.

I do, however, think that 26:xx is completely realistic, considering (according to both my Garmin and Runmeter) I ran the 10K last Saturday at about an 8:50 pace (no chip times at the race, just gun times, so my official gun time pace was listed as 9:06). And if I ran a 10K on a bridge in the wind at an 8:50 pace (or even a 9:00 pace), then I'm sure I can run a flat, bridge-less 5K on a non-windy, slightly warmer day at a much faster pace. Maybe even eek out that sub-26 time.

My plan is to go out slow and pick up speed as I feel like I can, rather than my usual 5K strategy of attempting to keep even (or marginally negative splits). No going out hard on this one. Hopefully, it works!

So, here are my goals for Saturday:

• Stretch goal: 25 minutes or thereabout (approximately what I was running in my late first/early second trimesters)
• Mostly realistic goal: Sub-26 minutes
• If-all-else fails goal: Sub-27 minutes (or faster than my first 5K back in 2012 at 26:51)