FINALLY! NOT a dns! yay! (otherwise known as the Drumstick Dash 5K)

THAT WAS SO FUN!

Drumstick Dash (5K) - November 28, 2013
time = 24:35
pace = 7:44 average
placed 2nd in my age group (40-44) out of 146
placed 36th in women out of 1515
placed 166th overall out of 2478

 i woke up around 4am super bummed to be awake.  my alarm was set for 5:30am and i was really hoping for that extra 1.5 hours.  i fell back to sleep but it was fitful and filled with too many puppies.  too many puppies that (according to my dream) belonged to me and were truly overwhelming to care for and pay attention to.  i wonder what that means?

when the alarm went off at 5:30am i was out of bed and taking care of the dogs in a flash.  its nice being the only one up sometimes.  i decided to make banana bread (which, incidentally, was nearly gone when i got home from my race), eat a banana, and then get dressed for my race.  it was 23 degrees this morning so warm enough to not have to have a ton of layers but too cold to not wear my winter coat.  when it was time for me to leave to pick up kellie the banana bread still had 7 minutes to go so i woke up brian and asked him to watch it and take it out… then i said my goodbyes and off i went!

it is amazing how few cars are on the road at 7am on a holiday morning.  i flew down the highway and made it to our meeting place (the petit center) at 7:25am.  we decided not to leave kellie's car at the petit because there were weird towing signs all around.  we went down a parkway, left her car there, and proceeded to miller park.  parking was a breeze even tho' we had to PAY for it… $5.00 in addition to the cost of the race… that was a bit of a bummer but no matter… i paid in advance when i picked up our packets yesterday.

we sat in the car for a little while and then decided to go inside and take a trip to the bathrooms.  it was very crowded inside and NO HEAT!  not only was there no heat they also had a bunch of the doors propped open letting all of the winter air in!  that was awful.  after the bathroom we decided to go back to the heat of the car to wait.

we stayed in the car until about 8:10am and then decided to head to the bathrooms one last time.  the line was redonkulous!  moved fast tho' and then we headed to the start.  it was a challenge to find the actual start through all the people.  we dodged and weaved our way from the very back to pretty close to the front.  national anthem… some announcer talking… and we were off!

i was too far back and had to cut around the far left edge to get around a bunch of people but once i got out of the group things were moving smoothly.  there were a few inclines that were awful because they were gradual and long… i much prefer a real hill and then it's done.  these are worse i think.

many people passed me because i started in the front and i'm not sure if i passed anyone… i try to run my own race and not worry about what the people around me are doing until the final stretch.

i ran positive splits which is my downfall… it seems i have the most challenging time NOT doing that.  i always mean to run negative splits so that i have the energy to really punch it at the end.  it never seems to work out that way.  maybe i'm just not controlled enough?  maybe i never will be.  there was a kid (probably around 10 years old) who was running all willy nilly all around me the whole time.  sometimes behind, sometimes next to, and sometimes in front of me.  its pretty great to watch children run… they're like rag dolls with no limb control.  when we got just past mile 2 he was running next to what i assume was his father.  all of a sudden he bolted and passed about 6 people in front of us before i stopped watching him.  i turned to the man (father?) and said that i wished i had his energy!  he told me that the kid wasn't feeling well and usually is much much faster.

i feel pretty fortunate that i was running at all today so even tho' this last mile or so was feeling really really challenging i was very happy that i was there and able to do it.  i feel very fortunate to have friends like kellie do these crazy things with me and that my body will still work the way i want it to.  life is really great guys!  i hope you realize that!  really really great!  all in all this was a fun race because i was there with a friend i enjoy spending time with and i love to run.  it is really too bad that i have to run in 23 degree weather but that's what happens when you live in wisconsin.  i'm doing another race december 8th with a different friend and after today i'm not looking forward to freezing my buns off… i will probably layer more for that one.

i liked the fact that this race had a wide range of runners… all ages.  i liked that they had bananas (my favorite) and cookies and water right in the finishers shoot.  i didn't like that they had no heated area for staging or at the end or the fact that they didn't have age group medals.  i mean… c'mon!  i will never come in the top 3 overall so i look forward to my age group medal!  i can almost always count on that!  lol!

happy thanksgiving everyone!  enjoy your day and be kind to yourself and others.