58,220 - Memorial Day 5k 2017

This is a new race for me! In the past, Hubby worked later in the morning, and I wasn't able to do it, but now that his schedule is different, I can take him to work and then head right up to Jax, so that's what I did!

I was up around 4, had some OJ, then woke up J. I got him to work and was on the road by 6am. Five minutes later, my new favorite song came on!

Put some PERM on that attitude!

I made pretty good time and got to Orange Park just shy of 7am. I found a great parking spot in front of Select Physical Therapy.

This spot is right across the street from the start line

Packet pickup was super easy. I think it took longer to walk over there than it did to get my stuff.

The running store is at the end of this shopping center

I debated getting in line for the potties (in the park), but I saw that the laundromat was open, so I popped in there. Apparently, a few other runners had the same idea, so there was a bit of a wait. Thank you to this Laundromat for letting us tinkle there!

Wish I knew the name of this place, I'd plug them!

After that, I headed back towards my car and I noticed that one of my pom-poms fell off!  Luckily, I found it and I was able to shove that bitch up under my shoelaces.

No Pom-Pom Left Behind

A lot of times, people write on themselves who they run for (IR4), or they'll put it on their bib. I didn't have a specific person I ran for today.

I am the daughter of a Vietnam Veteran. My father came home. He came home broken, and he was welcomed with taunts, vindictive threats and trash. He had diapers thrown at him. He was called "Baby Killer." All for simply fighting in a war he didn't even want to participate in.

He didn't talk about Vietnam much, as you can imagine. I never knew why my dad had a bum knee or why he wore dentures at such a young age. I never knew why my dad was so vehemently against guns - I was never allowed to have toy guns, Nerf guns, cap guns, squirt guns or even go "pew pew pew" with my fingers. There were many parts of his life that were secret, and this was one of them. As I grew up, I discovered that many Vietnam Veterans were similar to my father. Vietnam wasn't seen in the same light as World War 2. The soldiers were not celebrated as heroes. They were treated like shit. For DECADES.

After I grew up, I learned more about the Vietnam war, but more about the Vietnam VETERANS. Many were never welcomed home. Many were spit on. None of them were celebrated as American Heroes.

I want to change that. At every turn, when I see someone with a Vietnam Veteran hat, or pin, or sticker on their car, I welcome them home (Dammit, I'm crying right now, for real). I thank all service men and women for their service, but that "Welcome Home" to a Vietnam Veteran is so special, both for me and for them, I hope.

58,220 soldiers who went to Vietnam never came home. I ran for them today. I welcomed them home.

Welcome Home, Soldiers. You are my heroes.

Okay, suck up those tears! Back to the race recap!!

I wandered around the park for a bit, checking things out. There were huge lines at the potties, so I'm extra-thankful for that laundromat! There were lots of kids playing on the playground, waiting for their parents to finish running.

There are a LOT of people here

Soon, it was time to line up, and WOW! There were a lot of runners!  You can see from the photo below that I'm in front of the finish line... the Start Line is actually about 1000 feet further past that. 

Wear Blue to Remember

We, of course, had a performance of The National Anthem - which was sung by pretty much every single one of us - and then we were off!

Yeah, it's hot today. I'm not pushing myself today.

Yep, that's a Big Momma pushing a stroller... in front of me

The route was nice; it was mostly through old neighborhoods, so that meant shade! Also, Orange Park has a large military community, so there was a lot of patriotism on display. Almost every yard had a flag.

The lead runners came back way before I even got near Mile 1!

Front runner

Flags

More fast runners

Finally - Mile 1!

Lots of shade on the route

It was a pretty uneventful race, so here's the Mile 2 sign. 

Mile 2

And then the Mile 3 sign. I like when they have final mile signs (Mile 3 at a 5k or Mile 13 at a half-marathon). Maybe it's because I'm OCD?

So close!

And I finished! My official time was 52:07, which of course is terrible for me! But that's par for the course at this point. I was 56th out of 60 in my age group and 853 out of 915 total finishers, which means I beat 62 people.

Finished

I got my medal, which is super awesome, then went to find some water.

I guess I need a better marker...

Whoo, you can see how red my face is!

Ooooh, artsy

After that, I wandered a bit, letting my body cool down. I got some Gatorade and part of a cinnamon bun from Panera (not bad, but it's Panera, so I ain't goin'), then made my way over to the bandstand for the raffle and awards

The announcer had a great way of ensuring that most runners would stick around for the awards - he did the raffle and the awards at the same time!  Started with M74-79 and did a few categories, then did a few raffles, then more awards, then more raffles. It was a bit tiresome, but I thought it was very smart. There were two little jackass teenagers standing near me that, after about 10 minutes, I wanted to fucking Purple Nurple them!  They bitched that the announcer started with "the old fuckers" instead of the young kids - because, I assume, that would give them their award first and they could leave then. Then, they bitched that the raffle prizes sucked. They kept standing there saying "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" under their breath. Assholes.

I stayed through the entire thing, won nothing, and eventually headed back to the car.

Yes, that says 97º (I took it at 2pm)

I stopped at a nearby Walgreen's and changed my clothes. I purchased 2 pimp Diet Cokes as Tinkle Tax™ then drove over to the Orange Park Mall.

Size comparison to a 20-oz bottle

I scored a great new "everyday" purse from St. John's Bay for only about $10 after sale and coupons.I also got a few work shirts.

Lunch was my new favorite - Chick-fi-Moe's: Chick-fil-A nuggets and Moe's chips and Queso.  CFA was awesome as always, the employees at Moe's need some serious lessons in customer service.

After lunch, I walked out some funk around the mall, but no other stores caught my eye. I grabbed a soda at RaceTrac and headed home.