More Running

Twas the night before Halloween and all through the town, many creatures were stirring and making lots of sounds.
Okay, I will spare you any more of that. And you are welcome. I ran another 5k this week. Two of my friends and I signed up to run the Full Moon 5k. After our entry fees had all been paid we started reading the fine print. The race would be run at night and there would be people out on the course trying to scare us. I, myself, do not like to be scared. I don't think either of my friends were to keen on the idea either. However, we laced up our shoes, pinned on our bibs, wore our costumes, and lined up in the start chute.
If I were a better blogger, I would have taken lots of fun pictures, but I didn't want to bring my camera and risk losing it. So, there is not a picture to be seen. We all wore black, including black hats and eye masks. And while there was a prize for best costume, I don't think that put us into the running. (Get the pun?) It was lots of fun seeing everyone else's costume and thinking about running in them. There was a swamp monster, some inflatable sumo wrestlers, crayons, Thing One and Thing Two, elves, and lots of others.
As for the scary portion of the event, yes, there were people on the course to scare us. Thankfully we got really good at spotting them in the distance and preparing to run by them. Also, we avoided being targeted most of the race. Maybe that is because we were running so fast.
I went into this race hoping that I could keep up with my running partners. One had run a 10k this summer and the other had run a half marathon. Ummm, I have run two 5ks. However, it was really good running with them. I think it is safe to say that we all pushed each other.
With chip adjusted time, I almost reached my goal of running a 5k in under 30 minutes. Almost meaning I missed it by 3 seconds. Oh well, this just sets me up for another.

Smoking 5k!

This Friday I laced up my shoes and ran in my second running 5k. (That means that I have walked many 5ks, but have only run one before this weekend.) As race week approached the weather was looking warm. Not just a little warm, but very, very warm. And unfortunately the forecasts were correct. We reached a record high of 93 the day of the event. For a girl who had been doing most of her training in the comfort of the gym, that was toasty!

I followed the race directors advice and left for the race one and a half hours early and it was a good thing that I did. The race traffic was backed up and I ended up having to park over 3/4 of a mile away. That is what happens when you join a race that has a goal of 10,000 runners and walkers!

I had been keeping myself hydrated throughout the day to get a jump on the evening run. And so upon my arrival, my first stop was the bank of port-a-pottys. To give you a glimpse at where my head was at that point, I spent a couple of minutes trying to figure out how to flush the thing. (Can you say pre-race jitters?) After that I made my way to the runners' line up and located my goal time area.

I am not a fast long distance runner. In fact, I could argue that I am not a long distance runner period. However, I had worked my way up to 3.1 miles and my goal was to finish it in around 30 minutes. Being optimistic I joined the 25-30 minute group instead of the 30-35 minute group. As I waited for the start I got more and more excited. In fact, I was so excited I got goose bumps. (Who gets goose bumps in 90 degree weather?!!)

After walking to the start line and the gun, I was off with the thousands of other runners. And that pre-race excitement stayed with me and got the better of me. I clicked off the first mile fast. Too fast. I was having a hard time finding my pace and I paid the price. I ended up having to walk at a few spots along the way. But those out there cheering from the sidelines and the other runners gave me the strength and encouragement that I needed to get back running again.

In the end I finished with a time of 32.05. It wasn't pretty. I didn't quite get the 30 that I wanted. But I did get out there and run. And hopefully I learned a few lessons for my next 5k in June.

Some other stats. I finished in 1595th place out of 8399 finishers. 93rd out of 748 in my division. And 685th out of 5668 women.