Cinco de Mayo 5K Race report

This was the strangest race I've ever been to. Being my second race and all, that's not saying much. But it was still strange.

Friday night we headed over to pick up our race packets and t-shirts. The address on our form said to head to 130 E. State st. When we typed it into the GPS the only options were for N. State and S. State. Weird. My husband remembered that his dentist is 140 E. State st, so we thought it must be close. As we drove down State st. we couldn't find the building we were looking for! We drove up and down that street 5 times! Finally my husband spotted a tiny 3'x2' lighted sign in a tiny window. In mismatched letters it said "5K sign up here." The "office" was about the size of our bedroom and was full of boxes of race packets. For such a small office, that race seemed to have a lot of participants.

After picking up the packet, we decided to find the park. Good thing! The park we thought it was totally wasn't! After driving up and down that road for 10 minutes we finally located the address. Wow.

On Saturday morning we headed over to the thing we thought was a park. As we pulled into the parking lot (30 minutes before race time, mind you) there was 1 other car there. Something wasn't right here. We grabbed the GPS, looked up the park, and sure enough, it was further down the road! Ugh! Only 1 tiny garage sale sign marked the entrance....on a dead-end road behind a cemetery.

Finally found it! There was such a great turn out! Oh wait....this is a trail race?! No one said anything about a trail race?!?! I'm not prepared for this!

As we were all standing around stretching, warming up, and talking someone (the race organizer) jumped up on the park pavilion table and shouted "OK! Get Ready!" She then held the starting pistol. The other organizer shouted for her to stop because he hadn't set up the time-clock! We then took that moment to pray....After the prayer the organizer attempted to fire the staring pistol, but it didn't work. This is where she then points it at her nose as tried to figure it out. Crazy! The time-clock guy set her straight and we started the race.

The trail part was hard. Sometimes we had to run across the grass. I feared for my ankles the whole time. But it wasn't bad. I enjoyed the scenery.

Because I had been sick over the past week, I wasn't sure how well I'd do. I concentrated on setting a decent pace for myself that didn't overwork my system. I felt like I didn't run as well as the last time. After mile 2 I needed to stop and walk. There was a couple in front of me the whole time and I wanted to pass them so bad! I couldn't catch up until the very end! As we were finishing the last tenth of a mile I found some energy left and kicked their butts!!!

Good thing I did. That extra burst of energy got me 2nd place in my age group! The girl in front of me took 3rd! Wow! I even beat my last time by 15 seconds! Ye Haw for a PR! Official time was 30:10. I received a maraca necklace for my efforts and a sombrero for finishing in the top 100!

For as weird as it was, it was a ton of fun!

Now I have to wait until June 12th for the next race :)

Arny Johnson Race Report

I can't believe the title of this post. About 1 year ago I told my husband that he was nuts for training for a half-marathon. And now I have completed my first 5K race and am planing on training for that same half-marathon I called "crazy" last year. Wow.

Ok....now for the good stuff.

I had absolutely no idea what to expect from this race....especially because it was raining when we woke up. We got up around 6:30 and left our home around 7:15. We had forgotten to pick up our race packet the night before and wanted to make sure we got there in time. Well...we did. It was a long hour before we had to even begin getting ready to run.

It was a very small race and the high school gym we were in was only 1/4 of the way occupied....but we were very early. I checked the race information poster board and noticed that the race would follow a bike path that I had ridden last summer. It would be an out and back thing. After we picked up our numbers, we noticed that there was a lot of information about upcoming races on another table. I spent a lot of time looking through brochures and getting excited about running more races. My husband noticed that his principal was running the race and kept talking about how he had to beat him :) (That didn't happen. That guy is fast!)

As the time got closer, the gym and hallway started to fill up and we began to stretch. My legs were tight and my knee was bothering me. It was still raining. The 10 mile race began at 8:30. It was very inspiring to watch those people get ready. At 8:32 my husband and I got into our position for our race. We jumped around and stretched some more. As the corral filled up I realized that I probably didn't want to be at the front with him. There is no way I could have kept up with him and lasted the whole race....so I kissed him good luck and moved toward the back.

When that gun went off I felt a huge rush. I knew I needed to keep my pace in check and not run, run, run. Things felt pretty comfortable and I worked my way through the crowd and kept an eye on my husband waaaaay up ahead. My knee and my shin gave me absolutely no problems!!! I steadily worked my way past the other runners.

I checked my watch at mile 1 and it said 9:46. I was stoked! As I passed the water station the leaders were already working their way back to the finish. (The female course record is 17:44!!!) I high-fived my husband at about mile 1-1/4. At the turn around I was behind one of the kids that was running the race. I couldn't believe the amount of kids that ran this race! It was great to see. I followed him for about 1/2 a mile and then passed him. I wasn't going to "lose" to a kid in my first race :)

The run back was tough. I did slow to a trot about 3 times just to catch my breath because my lungs were acting up. I grabbed a cup at the water station and didn't realize that it was Gatorade until I splashed it all over my face and down my shirt...with a little bit dribbling into my mouth. How the heck are you supposed to drink from a cup while running?!?!? With about 1/2 mile to go I ended up behind a woman with bright pink shorts. I just couldn't get my pace up enough to pass her. As we rounded the corner and could see the finish line I was passed by another woman wearing wings. I thought....awww hell no! I hadn't been passed for the entire race and it wasn't going to happen now!

The finish line was at the end of the parking lot and it was a straight shot. I kicked it up and smoked them both! My husband was waiting for me just by the finish line and was cheering me on. I felt like I was flying! It was amazing! After I crossed the line we had to wait in a line and give a tag from our bib to the timer.

My official time was 30:25. Awesome! I was 6th in my age group and thought that was pretty great. My husband took 1st in his age group with a time of 26:50. (This is the part where I don't tell you that he was the only guy in his age group :)......) He also accomplished this with a sprained ankle. He rolled his ankle about 1/2 mile in and had to hobble. But he sucked it up and made it through. (He's been icing it since we got home though.)

Overall it was a great experience. I can't wait until the next race. I don't know if my time will improve, and I don't much mind right now if it doesn't.

Today....I love running!

~*~*~Update~*~*~
Husband is doing just fine.

And I forgot to add that the iPod gods were with me during the whole race. Heard my favorite Fort Minor-Remember the Name as we hit the 1/4 mile mark. As I was hitting the last leg I heard my new favorite running song: Guru Josh Project-Infinity. It totally made me feel like a hard core runner as I kicked butt across the finish line.

Awesome!