4:39 am-get up, stumble around, and shower
5:20-5:30 am-wait in line at McDonalds (an egg mcmuffin with no cheese should not take this long)
5:30-7:45 am-loooong drive to Danville. Includes 2 bathroom stops because I ate at CiCi's pizza last night and it did not agree with me in any way, yuck! Also included 1 fuel stop because we drive a gas guzzler.
7:45-9:00 am-loooong wait for the start because we left early. Had a bad experience with the directions to my first 5k last year, so we always leave early. Runners can put in some miles, but a lot can't give proper directions ;-). Fortunately this one had good signs leading you in.
Turned into a bright sunny day but very cold--at least for us it is. 27° F, felt like 17°F with the wind chill. did my warmup jog but it wasn't warming me up very much, the wind was brutal. This was the first time that my thick tights weren't keeping me comfortable. Nice flat start to the race, turned into some rolling hills and we did have some concrete sidewalks for an uphill portion. Most everybody was having trouble breathing properly because of the cold and wind. My legs were ok but not great because I did a speed workout Thursday night and didn't get in a easy 2-3 miler Friday. It was my breathing and a small cramp from being a little dehydrated due to the earlier tummy issues. First mile was 8:00, 2nd mile was 16:56, finish time was 25:53, not a pr but my 2nd best time so far. My current pr is 25:09 at the Russellville Reindeer 5k in December, but that was a very flat course and it was above freezing temps. I'm very pleased, with the way my morning started I was worried that I would have some trouble completing the race but my time was good enough for the first place 35-39 female age group award, YAY!!!!!!
Start of the race
Our own barefoot runner (he's tough, there was ice at the finish line!)
Me at the start
Cinnamon dolce latte and my age group medal
Close-up of the age group medal, pretty cool looking in my opninion.
Got to brag on my husband, not only did he not complain about getting up at 4:30 am, he actually stood out in the cold and videoed (is that an actual word?) the first men and women finishers so that I could see it afterwards. The only time he complained was when they were taking a long time to get the awards ceremony started and even then he was only a little grumpy.
I have got to start standing up closer to the middle of the starting line, I'm consistently losing 10-15 seconds off my time by standing in the back. It's not a big deal on chipped races but most of the races I've run in have not been chipped. I'm a little claustrophobic and do not like being in the middle of crowds, esp. ones where people are jostling for position, but really need to try to get past that if I want to see more improvement. I'm not much of a kicker, I'm more of a consistent runner so need to get my butt into the middle of the crowd.
Excellent food after the race, they had the usual bananas, oranges, and cookies but today a couple of women brought in chicken salad, cold cut sandwiches, pigs in a blanket, and homemade crackers (yummmy). It was greatly appreciated having some real food available after such a cold run. Plus, we made a stop at Starbucks in Conway on the way home.
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