Susie's Run! 5k

Today was my very first ever race, a 5k.  I signed up for it right after I did the March of Dimes walk last month, because, after doing the Walk, I knew I was capable of doing a 5k and Susie's Run gave me motivation to train a little bit harder for that Princess bling in February.

It seemed like it took forever for this weekend to get here. I actually put Disney planning on HOLD while I planned for this (we leave for Disney this week!).  As you guys know, I bought a compression sleeve, found a great place to walk/run outside, and upped my mileage in the weeks leading up to this.

When I got home from work yesterday, after picking up my packet at Fit2Run, I (of course!) had a list of everything I needed to do before going to bed so I could be prepared for today.  I made sure my media player was at full battery, I laid out all my clothes; I even went as far as putting my scrambled egg cooking paraphernalia on the stove so I wouldn't have to hunt them down today!

My Shirt and Bib Number

I went to bed at 8 last night, but I was trying to sort out my coupons, since I was still going to the grocery store today after the 5k.  I think I finally finished sorting them and typing up my shopping lists around 9. I put the laptop, coupon binder and list away and hunkered down to go to sleep.  From what I remember, I fell asleep pretty quickly.

At about 6:30 this morning, my cat decided it was playtime and she was making all sorts of noise, which kept me from falling back asleep.   In hindsight, I guess this was a good thing - it gave me time to wake up slowly, make sure I had all my gear.  I found this on the refrigerator note board waiting for me:

Note of Encouragement from my Hubby

I had a leisurely breakfast (2 Eggland's Best eggs, scrambled with 1 tablespoon of cheese, what I always eat before I go out in the a.m. for a run) and watched the news. My daughter woke up when I was done eating, so she and I talked for a while until it was time for me to go get dressed and head out.

I asked her to take a photo of me all dressed, but it didn't come out very well.  I messed with the exposure a little bit so that you could actually see me:

Susie's shirt had a HIGH neck, so I wore my own

The drive to the start line was pretty uneventful, and frankly, pretty quick!  It usually takes me 30 minutes to get there, but this morning, I got there in about 10.  I got a good parking spot and headed to the starting area.  I walked over to the Packet Pickup Area to see if I needed to check-in or sign anything, but I was good to go, so I began to wander around to warm up.  I'd stop here and there to do calf raises or heel drops. I went to the restroom in a very yucky gym restroom. I drank all my water before realizing there wasn't a place (that I could see) to fill up my bottle.

Around 8:41, this was how crowded it was:

The crowd would probably quadruple before 9a.m. I didn't take a photo of that though because by then I was ready to GO!

The event coordinators tried to create corrals, or at least starting lines, but I don't think anyone even saw these:

I saw them and was standing behind the Walkers section, but there were these two families with Soccer Moms on my left who kept talking and talking and never shut up! No offense, but good lord, put a sock in it!

Finally, at 9:05, the Speedy Wheels got a 30-second head start, then the Runners got to go, but at that point, everyone went like "oh, we're going now, okay!" so there was no delineation between the Runners and the Walkers. That's fine with me, let's GO!

I had my ears (earbuds) in with some good tunes and I shot out of the gate at a quick walk, knowing that if I gave it all now, I would only run out of go later.  We rounded the first corner and I picked up speed, breaking into a jog.  I got quicker and quicker until I realized the road was going downhill and it was taking me with it!  Thank God for that hill!  I went back to walking as we cut through a neighborhood on the left and then back out onto the main road.  More jogging, more walking.  I'm getting sweaty and I'm mad at myself for drinking all my water!

We turn onto 8th Avenue by the park and I end up getting stuck behind those two damn soccer moms from the starting line.  Power-walking side by side with their jogging strollers, not caring that anyone behind them wants to friggin' pass them!  This is not the mall, nor is it your neighborhood street on a Saturday morning - get the heck out of my way!

I finally find a place to go around them at a jog, then back it back down to a fast walk and all of a sudden people are just WHIZZING by me!  Where the hell did all of these fast people come from?  Oh, I remembered that we are doing a 2-lap course, so these folks are probably on their SECOND lap, and I'm still chugging along on my first. Sad.

I round the final corner to where the start/finish line is and finally take a glance at my watch as I begin Lap 2:

(24:04)

I am super excited to see this!!!  Math whiz that I am, I know that if I can do what I just did again, I'll be done in 48 minutes!  Holy shit!  That got a bit of wind in my sails and I walked a bit faster, knowing the downhill was coming and I could gather some speed there.

So, repeat Lap 1 - I ran fast down the hill. I recovered in the neighborhood. And sonofabitch, wouldn't you know it, I get stuck behind Soccer Moms again!  I'm about out of breath at this point, so I just pace behind them, knowing where the sidewalk widens and I can get ahead of them.  I run/walk the way to the turn to the finish line and I'm neck and neck with Soccer Moms.  I give it all I have and run through that balloon finish line and I just COMPLETED A 5k PEOPLE!!!!!!!! And, because I'm petulant, I also beat the Soccer Moms!!!!!  My finish line time looked to be right around 48:45 or so, but I snapped this pic of my watch after I got out of the chute:

(It says 49:14)

 I walked around a moment to cool down, then asked a nice lady to take my photo:

Lookin' so awesome at the finish line!

I told her that this was my very first ever 5k that I did, she gave me a high 5 and a big congrats!

I moseyed over to where the free pancakes were, but there was no water.  I ended up grabbing a pancake anyway:

One (slightly cold overcooked) pancake

I stood near the finisher chute to see how many people were still coming in - I was convinced that I was practically last - and a bunch of people kept coming!

Once everyone made it to the finish line and commenced stuffing themselves silly with carbs, there was a raffle, so I stuck around, but I kept walking around because I didn't want to sit and get stiff.  I ended up near the finish line again and asked what the last time was.  The final runner came it at (I may have my number off, 3 might be 8) 1:03:00!!!  So, not only was I NOT LAST, I beat the last person by at least 15 minutes!  I couldn't believe it!!

Slowly, once the raffle was over, I walked to my car (legs still feeling pretty good at this point) and as soon as I shut the door, I believe I said the following:  "Woo hoo!  Holy shit, I just finished a 5k, WTF" (though, we all know what WTF means, so I won't type it out). Then I kind of cried for a second. 

It didn't last long, though, I wanted to get home and change out of my extremely sweaty clothes!  I got a huge hug from hubby and recapped the race for him, then I was out the door again to do my Wal-Mart and grocery shopping for the day.  W.I.S.H. taught me that moving after a race will keep the stiffness away!

For those of you that are wondering, my 49:14 time gives me a 15.41mm pace time!  Not only have I done a 5k, I did it beating the Princess pace time.  I can only get faster from here and my goal for this 5k next year is to RUN it.

I'm off to make love to the couch now, as my PF hurts quite badly, despite all the stretching, and there are hot dogs in my future for dinner!

As for that celebratory cake I mentioned in a previous post?  Screw that, I'm gonna have celebratory STEAK at LeCellier next Saturday at Epcot (I guess I should get to work on THAT to-do list now...)

The best steakhouse ever!