I DID IT... I DID IT!!!!

So today was my first 5K and not only did I complete it, but I came in under 30 minutes. I actually came in at 29:57 and for that my spot on the roster was 14 out of 45 women in my age category. Woo Hoo.

And the whole experience was a total blast. There were 300 runners who showed up for this race which was far more than they expected. It being my first race, I got there extra early so I wouldn’t have to rush around. I saw several of my boot camp buddies, and a co-worker who also signed up to do this race. For most of us, it was our first 5K. I pinned on my race number like I saw everyone else do, but I also had this little timing chip that they gave. I had no idea where this timing chip was to go, but after scoping out the behavior of some of the more experienced looking runners, I deduced that it went on my shoe. How cool. This little piece of technology was somehow hooked into a computer and as soon as I passed the start and then back through the finish line, it would calculate my time to the seconds. All this technology makes the results much more accurate apparently and within minutes of the last person crossing the finish line, they knew all the winners and printed them out to post up. No waiting for results. Amazing.

Man, I have to comment on one thing I noticed about runners though after surveying the crowd. They certainly come in ALL shapes and sizes and ages. Funny thing, I found out was you absolutely can’t tell a runner’s book by their cover. This is something you rarely witness at any mountain bike races. Everyone there looks pretty much the same. And if they don’t generally, you know what their skill level is going to be just by sizing them up. This is Not the case with runners. I found that very refreshing. For example, I ended up crossing the finish line with some guy who had to be at least 30 pounds overweight. How does that work?!

Anyway, I started out toward the back of the pack and when the air horn went off, we all shuffled forward. Literally. We shuffled. Everyone was basically moving like penguins and it felt like we were impersonating cows being rounded up into a coral. Moooo.....

Finally, the pack broke up and we all started to actually move our feet in a forward running motion. Now, that’s better. I am not very aggressive, so I pretty much stayed behind the persons in front of me and watched others zig zag around the slower folk when I started. This turned out to be a fine strategy because it forced me to pace myself slow at first and not jack rabbit at the start. Finally, I found my own rhythm and started to pass people (in a polite way of course). We came down the first stretch of pavement and then began to enter the off road portion of trail. This was where I knew I could shine because I have mostly trained off road. My favorite type of running is in the woods so this was my turf. Stride after stride, I began to pass more and more runners. Running on soft muddy ground, wood chips, uneven grassy fields is not as easy as pavement and I guess many runners tend to train on the road. I did not. Not far into the trail, I passed a co-worker who was pulled off to the side walking and out of breath. I tried to encourage her and just told her to just keep moving and don’t stop. That seemed to do the trick. She clearly went out too fast which was something I feared I’d do. I kept my pace steady though and tried not to think about how much more there was to run. Then I saw the sign, 1 mile. ONE MILE??!! All right, 1 mile down, 2.2 to go. Stupid informational signs.

We came out of the trail section and headed back out on the pavement and now were to head down a local neighborhood street for an out and back finish. I started running up the street somehow still passing others and thought to myself... “hey I am doing pretty good”. I was about .50 mile in to that when I saw this little powerhouse of a man come blasting down the street coming the OTHER way. Whoa, That guy is fast. I noticed that for some reason he had a bicyclist riding in front of him telling him how good he was doing. Hey, how come he gets a bike coach? Turned out that was not his bike coach, that was the race pace bike. That was the guy who came in first. This guy’s time was something like 18 minutes and he ran the thing on average of less than a 6 minute mile. I was in awe. So that’s what 6 minute miles look like. Fascinating.

I kept on running and I came to the one and only water stop. As I run by, this nice lady is trying to hand me a cup of water. I, in return, am trying to simultaneously grab it yet keep on running so as not to lose any time. Well apparently , THAT is a skill you need to acquire. I only managed to shake most of it out of my cup and the mere bit that I was able to bring up to my lips to drink only ended up being spilled all over the front of my shirt. Lovely.

About 5 feet ahead was a garbage bin and me not being a litter bug promptly threw the rest of my water cup out even though I wasn’t finished. As, I ran up ahead , I saw cups littered all over the ground. Apparently, you don’t have to throw your cup out just because you see the garbage bin and it is perfectly all right to wait until you FINISH the water and then toss it to the ground all willy nilly. Ahh...now I know that for the next time. Seems kind of messy, but hey when in Rome...

So anyway, I kept on running. My goal was just not to stop. As I got to the end and saw the turn around, I was elated. I knew exactly how far I had to run back now because I just ran it out. Uggh...that downhill I just ran to the turnaround has now magically turned in to an uphill. Oh rats...but, I trudged along not stopping yet looking no where but straight up ahead. I had to stop at the top and walk for a few seconds, but then I regained my energy and picked up my pace again. I saw some girls I knew from boot camp heading in to start as I was on my way out. I was so excited to see people I knew that I cheered out a bunch of , “YOU GO GIRL, WOOHOO!” hoots and hollers. Apparently, other serious runners don’t approve of you wasting your energy to cheer others on when they are feeling tired or maybe they just didn’t appreciate me being loud and boisterous in their presence. I am assuming that's what the glares were for. Oh well...too bad. I kept right at it. It’s just how I roll sometimes. Deal with it.

Finally, I rounded the last corner and saw the cool inflatable finish line and along the line was my smiling husband, some other fellow boot campers, and our trainer all cheering me on to go faster, go faster. Well, I have never been one to turn down a request. So in the last stretch, I hauled butt as fast as I could and crossed the finish line in a blaze of glory passing some others in the process. Some guy then stopped me and ripped my timing chip off my shoe and let me carry on to the grassy area. Woo hoo...I did it. That’s when the nausea hit. Oh crap. Okay, keep it down, just breathe deep and get into the shade. I collapsed onto the grass and tried to look like I was feeling just fine. After a few minutes passed, the nausea passed. I got up to watch my friends cross the finish line and cheer them on. Yep, once again, I was loud and boisterous, but I didn’t care. There is something about having people yelling and screaming at you to go faster when you just want to stop that helps you pick up the pace. And it makes for much better finish line photos. :-) I guess this is what they call the runner’s high because I want more.

Plus, I got this cool looking BLACK race t-shirt which I will wear proudly. Preferably on days when it is NOT 90 degrees in the shade.

Oh, and I got to have that Arroz con pollo I have promised myself and I swear, it tasted even better tonight than in the past. :-)

I can’t wait to do another....now comes the serious training for the Adventure race.