r/running • u/kimtenisqueen • 3h ago
Race Report Race Report: Spinx RunFest Greenville 5k- I didn’t give up.
Race Info
Name: Spinx Runfest Greenville 5k
Data: October 24th, 2026
Distance: 5k
Finish Time: 22:12
Race Splits
My manual splits
1mi- 6:28
2mi - 7:16
3mi - 7:41
.1 to finish- 6:25
Cumulative time 22:12
Overall pace 7:06
Goal:
A - Sub 20:00* I was aware this was pretty unrealistic
B - pr: 21:38
C - podium 😂 I did meet this one.
Background
34f mom of 2yo twins. 5’10” 140-145lbs
Background
I did not run until college , trained
For a marathon by myself, did it (slowly, like 5hrs) and then ran off and on for a few years. About 6 years ago I got a garmin and started running much more consistently. I started training with the idea of getting to sub 20 one day. I had a goal race set and was training hard and felt really good when I found out I was pregnant and surprise, twins!
Pregnancy was rough AF and I could not run during pregnancy as I had severe SPD (pubic bone literally splitting apart)
But I got back into training pretty quickly after birth and built my base back up over the first year and a half.
I decided to start to train over the summer and aim for a fall 5k with whatever I could achieve by then.
Training
I use a garmin coach plan. 6 days a week. I did not do strength training with garmin, instead I picked out some 30 minute work outs in caliber to mix in.
The first few months went really well but there was a series of events in August that derailed my training a bit- one of my boys had adenoid surgery, then IMMEDIATELY the house was hit with hand foot and mouth, then we were having some family/parenting issues that we started going to counseling for, all while my husband was starting a new business. Long story short some runs just plain didn’t happen and the gym didn’t happen anymore at all.
A lot of that is better now but as I was coming into the fall my garmin prediction stayed stuck at 21:50 and did not change. I hit most of my training runs 70-90%. And i did it all with heart rate based training. I went off script a few times, once I was on a treadmill doing a threshold run and felt amazing and just went for it and did a 21:38 5k (my PR)
A few weeks out I started to get a niggle in my right foot. I got new shoes and it got way better, but it’s still slightly there.
The week leading up to the race I was healthy, ate well, slept well, and in pretty good condition except my period should be starting any moment and that’s always my hardest time to run for me. I woke up race day pretty crampy. I wore black shorts just in case.
Race
55-60of sunny/light clouds. A little windy after but didn’t feel wind during.
Marathon goes first, then half, then 10k, then kids fun run then 5k at 8am. So I got there hell of early at 6:30 and found parking about half a mile out on the street.
I pre-gamed in the car. I drank a Celsius (normal for me) had a nutrigrain bar and took a handful of nerds gummies with me for right before the race. I pumped up the heat and listened to music , put on my bib, did my hair and left the car at about 7:15.
Light jog to the baseball stadium that was the race start/finish. Bathroom and
My equipment for the race was: garmin and a unicorn hair bow. I set my garmin to show me: time passed, distance passed, current pace, average pace, and nothing else.
I did a warmup jog for 10ish minutes. Maybe a little less than that, but I had to pee again and the lines to the women’s restroom were long. I got out to the start line at 7:58. There was plenty of room at the start and I could easily pick my spot. I did not go front line, but about 20-30 people back.
Another woman was a similar age to me in pink and at about the same place in the pack. She moved behind me. I also spotted a woman (girl?) on the front line. At the end of the day I run my own race but moment to moment I find being competitive helps pull me through.
The race started and I left and immediately felt I was exactly where I needed to be. Everyone around me was going about the same pace, this was easy and I was going to be fine. I glanced at my watch and we were going at a 5min mile pace. Yikes! I slowed down a bit and settled in to 6:10. Pink lady was just behind me. I just focused on form and not going too fast. I tend to hunch forward so the faster I could lock into deep breathing and holding my core up the better.
I was really hoping to make it to the half way mark before feeling the pain but I was starting to have to fight a little and we weren’t at mile 1 yet. That kinda sucked. I hit mile 1 at 6:28 and knew then this wasn’t going to be the race. But I have the tendency to throw the whole thing out and just stop when things aren’t perfect so I switched my goal real fast and said I’m still the second woman here, let’s podium.
It was a down and back and in the stretch between turning around and mile 2 pink lady passed me. I was definitely much slower and I think the mental battle was winning a bit. The last mile is slightly uphill and it seemed so far away and every time I looked at my watch my pace seemed to have dropped a bit.
Mile 3 came and i stole a glance back to see another woman behind me but still a ways back. She had a long pony tail and that’s the only way I knew. At this point all the cross country high school boys were passing me.
Since pregnancy I throw up with rough efforts and I wasn’t nauseated yet so I realized I had more in me so I dug in and found the gear again.
Rounding the corner back to the stadium and going into the stadium the sun changed and I could see pony tail was directly behind me. I kicked in and told myself I wasn’t going to fucking let her pass me. I was back at 6:25 pace for the last .14 and maybe faster than that because I walked a few steps before stopping my watch.
Misc Race Stats
Race elevation: 79ft
Average HR: 163 (I don’t believe this one for a
Second. I wasn’t wearing my hr band, just the watch)
Max HR: 183bpm (maybe more realistic. 180s are when I usually feel nauseated)
Average Cadence: 174spm
Average Stride Length: 1.29m
Post-Race
I was a little sick but didn’t throw up. I was dizzy and I was surprised at how deep into my lungs I was breathing and I coughed a bit. It felt raspy /sensitive like I’d just gotten over pneumonia or something.
I didn’t partake in much of the tents and after race stuff. I actually walked right past the food trays (pre packed “protein snacks”) to find my family. Then I was freezing and once I found my family I took the kids over to a little playground while my husband ran off to get my sweatshirt from the car.
While 99.9% of this race was lovely and well
Organized I have to say I was sorely disappointed in the awards ceremony. They held it at 9am in an aisleway of the baseball stadium. The announcer for the finishers was WAY LOUDER than the announcer for the awards to he was totally drowned out. There was no announcement, no fanfare, nada. I was standing right next to where the awards were supposed to be waiting and suddenly I saw the girl I’d seen in front with a trophy. I walked up and couldn’t hear the loudspeaker until I was like 2 feet away from it. I talked to the guy with the awards, he shook my hand and gave me a (very pretty) trophy. I don’t need a huge todo for 3rd place woman but it did feel like such an afterthought. I dont know why they couldn’t have done it outside and at least done some little boxes to stand on or something. Geez the girl who won the thing was 15! Someone put her on a podium! And the men who won had some insane times (15:40!!!???)
Anyway we left and went to eggs up grill and I got crème brule French toast and that was incredible.
Lessons Learned
twin toddlers will fuck up your running goals 😂
garmin knows me well. It wasn’t lying. I need to strength train more and I can’t skip training runs and expect the same result
Being a woman can be very disheartening as I can train my ass off and my husband can not train at all and do a little jogging here and there and still beat me pushing the stroller but in races it’s really freaking nice being a woman and being able to fight for a podium even though I’m not a career athlete. It helps.
On that note it was really nice that my husband wasn’t racing this one. Being able to go alone and not manage the kids while getting ready was amazing
I need to race more often. Not like every week but there was so much I was discovering as I was doing it. Like how insanely fast I felt at the start and how that probably did me no favors later. Also the second mile I’m suspicious I had more in me but I’m not sure how to push past the psychological funk there.
I’m happy with my nutrition and fueling.
What’s next:
Garmin let’s go again! While getting breakfast I signed up for a small local 5k on January 2nd. 10 weeks out. I refreshed my plan to include strength training and I’m going to try the garmin suggested workouts. I’m not being quite so overly ambitious this round. Since my pr is 21:38 back in August I set my new goal for 21:00.
The next two weeks I’m going to take it pretty easy. Mostly because of the niggle in my foot. Start the strength training (it looks pretty friendly at first) and do 2-3 miles rruns then get back into the full plan after that.