Way to go, Ding Dong.

I've made it an unofficial goal to do a 5k each month.  It's a bit of a struggle lining up races during the summer, because it's a slow race season here in the South.  Too hot.  But I managed to find one in August... the Ranch Run.  It's put on by the same charity that is doing my half-marathon in October and I thought it would be a really neat chance to see part of the race course.  I've just been waiting to have the spare funds to register for it.

I've checked out the website a few times.  It said the race started at 6:30.  And it's about a 45 minute drive from my house.  So I had to really consider whether or not I was willing to wake up that early on a Saturday to do a race.  But I thought that considering the fact that it's usually 146* here in August (give or take 50 degrees), racing that early in the morning is probably a good thing.  And I'd be able to get home in plenty of time to make lunch and send Bill off to work.

So I just registered last night.

Then I, for some reason, started scrolling through their Facebook page, which I had pulled up to get the website to register.

I noticed someone commenting on how early the race was.  The race people responded, "No!  It's not 6:30 in the morning, it's at night!"

Say what?

Oh no!

In all the times I've looked at the race info, it never once registered that the time was 6:30 P.M., not a.m.

Bill works Saturday nights.  I can leave the girls home with him for a Saturday morning race, but I can't leave them home for a Saturday evening race.

Now I have to line up a babysitter for the evening.  Hopefully my sister can watch them since she wasn't planning on doing the race (because she thought it was in the morning, too, and wasn't willing to get up that early).

And I'll probably have a heat stroke running at 6:30 at night... it's still hot out then!

I swear....

Firecracker Fast 5k 2013

This morning was the Firecracker Fast 5k that is held by the running store where I bought my shoes, Fleet Feet Easy Runner.  I was nervous about registering for it, because it was described as a mostly downhill course.  I've always heard it's easier to injure yourself running downhill.  Plus, being a "fast" race, I was worried about having some amazing PR that I'll never beat.  But I wanted to run a race and pickings are slim this time of year.  

Since it's July, and usually disgustingly hot, the race started at 7:30am.  However, the weather has been really mild this week.  I opened the door this morning and it was actually chilly outside.  Awesome!  It was a bit warmer by the time we got there, just perfect.  Not warm, not cold.

 
Off topic, but I realized today that my collar bones are starting to become visible.  So freaking awesome!  I don't remember the last time I saw those things.

As usual, my sister joined me.  She almost didn't, though.  She had a car accident a few weeks ago, and had some bruised ribs.  She's had a hard time running since, but she decided to give it a go.  She was worried about being the only one walking parts of the course, but she had nothing to worry about.  Even a "fast" 5k has walkers.  She told me not to hold myself back to keep pace with her and I didn't.  We were together until the first real downhill part and I left her behind then.

I haven't had a whole lot of experience running downhill.  But this is what I have learned:  It's kind of like riding a motorcycle, you have to lean into the curves (or the hill in this case).  You want to right yourself when you start to tilt, but you just need to embrace the tilt.  My first reaction to running downhill is to lean back a little, because I feel like I'm pitching forward and afraid I'll fall on my face if I go to fast.  It makes the footfalls feel really jarring to me.  But if I just let myself lean forward like my body wants to, I don't feel so jarred and it's a lot more fun.  

There were some pretty steep downhill parts.  But they forgot to mention that most of the last half mile is uphill.  I got halfway up and had a stitch in my side and a pain in my upper right chest.  I thought "Oh crap!  I joked about this race killing me because I've been such a slacker, and now I'm really going to die!"  But walking for a few minutes helped and I was able to actually run to the finish.  I think it was a breathing thing, not a heart thing... I never felt BAD, and it went away as soon as my breathing slowed.

My official time was 40:05.  That is almost 5 minutes faster than my last 5k.  I don't think it's fast enough to discourage me - I'm not thinking "Oh no!  I'll never beat that PR!"  I think with enough work, I could beat it eventually on a normal race.  It will take some time, but I can do it.  It gives me a good goal.

My sister did really well, too.  She was only a few minutes behind me, which is awesome, all things considered.

The race was a point-to-point race, instead of a loop.  So we could either walk back to the start where we parked, or take a trolley.  We decided walking uphill 3.1 miles back to the start was too much, so we waited for the trolley.  



We didn't make it on the first round, and started to wait for the second round.  After 20 minutes, we decided to just walk.  It was just taking way too long and I, personally, had no desire to be packed like that into a trolley with that many sweaty people.

We used the GPS on the phone to shortcut through a neighborhood, so we actually only had to walk 1.6 miles back to the van.  =)  Uphill, yes, but only about half the distance.

Oh, and they posted a finish line video on their Facebook feed today.  Yeah, I didn't need that confirmation of how ridiculous I look running....

Next up will probably be the Ranch Run 5k on August 3, and I don't think my sister is doing that.  Not only is it about a 45 minute drive away, it starts at 6am.  Yeah.  6am.  I haven't registered yet, but I do plan on it.  I have to work these things into the budget.  Being a runner isn't cheap.

Rock N Stroll 5k

So, today was the big day!  The Rock N Stroll 5k.  My first 5k as a runner.

My sister has also been training for this 5k.  She sent me a message yesterday expressing her concern about being able to complete it.  She's been super busy all month... she's been out of town practically half the month and hasn't had the chance to train like scheduled.  She had decided that if she wasn't able to run the whole race today that she'd sign up for another 5k next weekend, hoping that having a back up goal would keep her from getting discouraged if she couldn't run this one.  I told her not to be too disappointed, she's come a very long way and should be proud of herself no matter what.  And I promised to push her through any disappointment if I had to.  =)  I like having her as a goal buddy, I don't want her to give up.  We have a half-marathon to do in October.  =)

I picked up my race packet on Friday, and I was a little disappointed in the tshirt.  There were two different races having packet pick up in the store that day, and the other race had a much cooler shirt.  I was jealous.  LOL

 

Anyway.  My alarm on my phone went off this morning at 7am and promptly froze as I tried to hit snooze.  By the time I got it to turn off and stop buzzing, I was wide awake.  No oversleeping for me.

I was actually more nervous about the parking situation than the actual race.  I hate parking downtown and I have absolutely no sense of direction.  I managed to park without any issue, but I had no clue where the start was in relation to where I was.  I saw two people walking in athletic gear, and decided to follow them.  At one point, there was a group of people with race bibs on walking the opposite way, and I thought "Hey, they're obviously running my race, so I should be following them." 

Um.  No.  After a few blocks, we met up with another group of people who asked us where the start was.  The group I was following said they didn't know, they were hoping the other people knew.  So there was a group of about 10 of us, lost as can be.  We did make it to the start on time... it turned out I should have followed the original couple.  Figures.

Then I started worrying about my sister.  I had texted her and tried to call her and no response.  I was worried about her oversleeping or something.  But she eventually found me and all was right with the world once again.

Yes, I rocked the Wonder Woman shirt.  Maybe by my next race I will feel a little more comfortable in it, but I'm proud of myself for wearing it today. I'm just not used to snug-fitting clothes.  But once I got there and saw how clingy most athletic shirts tend to be, I didn't feel like anyone would be all like "OMG, she left the house like that?"  =)  Oh, and Bill thought it was a Whataburger tshirt.  :::sigh:::

And then the race started.  I planned on sticking with my sister.  We run pretty much the same pace, and if she had gone to a walk, she walks as fast as she runs, so I still would have been fine.  =)  But I wanted to stay with her in case she felt like giving up, hoping that having me there would encourage her to push as far as she possibly could.

I wasn't all that concerned with whether or not I could do the distance, because I did it last week.  But I was concerned with the bridge we had to cross because I trained mostly on the treadmill and my outdoor routes are pretty flat.  But it wasn't too bad, really.  

I slowed to a walk just once to drink some water because I sloshed it all over my face trying to run.  

I had to stop very briefly to retie my shoe about mile 2.  I always double knot my shoes.  I don't know what I was thinking today.

We got close to what we thought was the finish line and I knew it wasn't 3.1 miles yet.  As we got closer there were volunteers there pointing the way to the real finish line.  I think my sister wanted to scream.  She was still there, by my side, by the way.  She had stopped running for maybe 5 seconds at one point and then decided there was no way she was giving up.  And she did not.

We saw the real finish line and the clock was reading 44:something.  I said, "there is no way that clock is hitting 45:00 with me on this side."  I just took off and jumped across the line like a crazy person.  I'm sure I looked like a dork.  I don't care.  My time was 44:35:53  =)  My sister was 44:35:86!  She finished the race!  She rocks.

I'm so happy.  Not one time did I ever want to quit, I felt great the entire time.  All the volunteers were just so friendly, all my lost people were super nice, I just loved every minute of it.  10 weeks ago, I really didn't think I'd ever be able to actually run 3.1 miles.  60 seconds was too much.  I'm just amazed at how far I've come.  Still intimidated by how far I want to go, but I don't think I can stop.  I can't say I'm in love with running itself, but the feeling of accomplishment.... what a high!  I'm definitely not stopping.

I'm going to try to work on getting a little faster when I do my weekday runs at the rec center, and then my weekend run will be distance.  I have 22 weeks or so until the half-marathon. 

I don't have any "real" races lined up until my half-marathon.  I have a few virtual 5ks, and I'm still planning on doing a virtual 10k for my sister and I in August (it may just be us, but I'll try to get other people to participate).  My sister mentioned a 5k in July she's thinking about registering for... the Firecracker Fast 5k.  It's mostly downhill and the record time for it is something crazy like 13 minutes.  Can you imagine?  I can't even run 1 mile in 13 minutes!  I'm thinking about it, though.  I worry about two things... I know people are more prone to injury running downhill and I'd hate to have a PR that I can't possibly beat in any other race!  

Oh, and wouldn't you know that today I discovered the Three Bridges Marathon... OMG!  It crosses the Clinton Bridge, the Big Dam Bridge, and the Two Rivers Bridge.  I love, love, love our bridges.  December 2013 is the inaugural race.  I still am not sure I'd ever go for a full marathon, but I'll be damned if these people aren't tempting me.