I FINISHED 3RD FEMALE OVERALL!!!!!
Okay, I just needed to yell that. Oh, and it was the 5k where that happened. 😀
Lemme start at the beginning.
As I’d mentioned before, I was the ambassador for this race and was very, very excited to be a representative out there. I went in with the intention of have fun and using it as a training run for Phoenix Half next weekend. That was the plan.
My high school running buddy Nadia was also doing the double challenge and she also planned on taking it easy. This pleased me because I’d have a running buddy and really, it would be my one chance to run with her (she’s way faster than me).
The 10k was first and we plodded along nicely at around a 9 minute pace. We chatted the entire way and eventually had no idea where we were in the park. Luckily the race had ample volunteers directing us because we were not paying any attention, lol! We rolled along and around mile 5 Nadia wanted to slow down and I decided to stick to the groove I was in. I finished the 10k at 55:05 with an 8:49/mile pace. Felt good the entire way.
The 5k was next and started about 30 minutes after the 10k. Nadia was going to stick to 9 minutes but I wanted to be around the 8:30-8:45 mark so we decided to go at it solo. I looked around the crowd one last time in search of my husband–he was meeting me before the start as my daughter would participate in the Kid’s Run after the 5k. I didn’t see him so when the horn blew, I began to run. I was going along nicely when at about a half mile in we approached the first turn. From where I was, I could count the people in front of me and saw that I was the third girl at that point. When we rounded the corner, I could see the crowd behind me and saw that the next couple of girls were a bit aways. This might be my only chance to place overall! Any plan I had at that point was out the window and I picked up the pace.
Just after the first mile, 7:55, I saw my husband and daughter and he caught this pic of me capturing how happy I was to see them
I kept it going, feeling good and mile two beeped at 7:58. I was still 3rd female.
When we reached the final mile, I began to speed up a little as I saw I was close to a PR. I figured I was so close, I might as well give it a shot. The race ended with a little uphill but I finished mile 3 at 7:39 and managed to beat my previous 5k time (and remain 3rd female!) at 23:55!!
As soon as I grabbed my medals I walked towards my husband and dragged him to the screens displaying runners’ finishing times. There I was, my name next to third female overall!!!
I know that this will very likely NEVER happen again (and thank goodness for small races, lol) so I’m glad I was able to finish strong despite having ran a 10k before.
But my bad luck with race awards continues…
Remember how at FroYo 10k my chip time never registered so I missed out on an Age Group award? Well Nick’s Run only awarded 1st and 2nd overall places ONLY!!!
WHOMP, WHOMP!!!!!
No 3rd place overall award for me 😦
It’s all good though because I can still say that at one point in my life I did that, lol!
On a positive note, they mail out Age Group awards and my times put me at 1st in my Age Group for both the 5k and 10k so I should be getting those! Super yay!
The best part of the race though???
THIS
Waiting for go time to start her Garmin ❤
I think she likes to run.
My daughter had an absolute blast running her race. The 2-4 year old distance was perfect for her and she ran the entire way by herself. I was such a proud mommy!!!
Admiring our medals
This was such a great race. Very well organized–like I’d mentioned earlier, the race was in a huge park and the course took you through several loops. There was a volunteer at EVERY turn directing you. I even saw the race director himself on the course pointing runners in the right direction.
And the medals. GORG.
I strongly encourage runners to race locally. So much thought is put into it and you can see how people truly care about the event taking place.
Plus, running smaller races gives you a chance to place 😉
–Do you run local races?
–Ever placed overall in a race? (Like Suzy, winning the whole damn thing in her first 5k)
–Have you raced two (or more) distances back to back?