Stumbling to the 5K finish line.. not a pretty sight

I'll give the race report tomorrow, but tonight's race, while decent in terms of finishing time, wasn't a pretty one to watch. The temperature was hot and humid. Twenty-eight degrees at race time but with the humidex, it was 36 degrees. I ran the first three kilometres that put me on a pace to be in the low 20:xx range. But by the time the final kilometre came, I just didn't have enough steam to maintain a high pace.

Maybe it's the heat, maybe it's because I'm not in 5K training mode but in 42.2K training mode. More likely, I was just stupid and my pride pushed me to push it in the final 300 metres. Anyways, with about 100 metres to go, I kid you not, I felt my head go light, my pace drop dramatically and my steps bounce. I staggered to the right and grabbed on to the fence. One of the race volunteers had to literally help me walk across the finish line. He walked me to the side and had me walk it off while asking if I was fine. I said yes, but in my mind, I was thinking of those finish line deaths. Was my heart beating too fast? Was it a head rush? Was I really dehydrated?

I walked it off, poured water on me, and waited for my head to clear and my heart to slow down. I was also waiting for R. to finish, but after a few minutes, I thought it would be smart if I hydrated. I did, she arrived to my relief and she held my hand while we walked back and forth on the board walk (I was really glad to see her).

All of this is to say that we're asked to train smart, but maybe I should learn to race smart and listen to the body. When it says slow, I shouldn't do the pig headed thing. We walked 4K home and I'm fine...

Oh, my time, including stumbling to the finish: 21:44. Officially my best time for the distance, but not how I'd like to PB.. More details to come..