By the time we got to the park, I had decided to boycott the 5K.
I played with the idea that if I just didn't get out of the car, I could go back to bed and forget about the whole thing.
I signed in and got my race number. 160. I joked to my mom, "Ha... are they handing these out by weight now?"
I tried to mentally burn the course into my brain. If I ended up being 2 miles behind everyone else, I didn't want to get lost.
But it was a cross country course... so naturally, it was really confusing and involved quite a few hills.
It seemed like there were a lot of hard-core runners out there. They were all doing these warm-ups and stretches and stripping down to practically nothing.
I did a little jog to warm up my legs.
Around 8:30, they ushered us all over to the starting line.
There were 27 of us there, and I was one of only 4 girls.
The gun went off, and we ran.
I didn't start super fast because I was scared of wearing myself out. My number one goal for this run was to actually RUN the entire thing.
Once we got about 1/4 mile into it, people were really starting to spread out. The people in front of me got further and further away. During one of my turns, I glanced behind me and saw 1 lady running and 2 men walking.
My 1-mile split was somewhere around 9:30. I was pleasantly suprised by that. Not too long after that, around 15 minutes into the race, I heard cheering and saw the first person cross the finish line. I was only halfway done.
My mom got some pictures. None of them are that great... I must've just been going too fast for her to catch me!
The race ended up being just as confusing as I had feared. Without anyone directly in front of me, I was never really sure where to go next. They had some high school kids standing around the course, and I had to ask them for directions a few times.
After I passed the 2-mile mark, I knew it wasn't much further. I told myself, it's just down this hill, around the baseball field, and in.
But on my way down the hill, I saw 2 runners coming UP the hill. I was suddenly thrown off. I wondered if the race course rendition in my head was wrong... did I still have another loop to do?
So when I got down the hill and around the baseball field... even with the finish line was IN SIGHT, I still didn't speed up, because I was convinced it wasn't the end.
The red is the final leg of the run, which I took pretty slowly.
It wasn't until I heard the people at the finish line start to cheer that I realized what I was doing... finishing!
I finished at 31:45, which is slow, but I didn't walk AT ALL, which is a first.
I was the last runner to finish. There were 3 people behind me, but they walked some of the course, so I don't count them as competition.
When it was all over, I was extremely exhausted...
... But of course my mom makes me smile for a picture anyway...
After everyone had finished, they gathered us all around. They did the obligatory "thank you"s and sponsor name-dropping.
Then they started announcing the winners... And I SWEAR I heard my name.... for FIRST PLACE in my age group.
I laughed... is this a joke? But no... it wasn't. Because I was the ONLY person in my age group.
So even though it was by default, I got a medal at my first 5K.
In 3 weeks exactly, I will have completed my first triathlon. I can't wait.
Time to step up the training.
3 comments:
OK, so I am not a professional photographer, I will try to do a better job at the tri. Congrats for completing the 5K and not walking.
Conrats on the 5K AG win. Hey - I'm with ya, I'll take a win any way I can get it.
And btw, nice photo log of the race. Clearly superior blogging tactics at play here.
I just discovered this blog and I LOVE this race report! Keep the medal somewhere; if you're like me, you'll find it in ten years and say "I won that?"
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