Blueberry Festival 5k

Saturday I ran in the Blueberry Festival 5k. It was terrible. So hot and humid, blerg. If you don't want to read a whiny blogpost, skip this one...

To start off with I woke up with a bit of a stomach ache. Just brushed it off as nerves and continued getting ready. Stephanie had us up at 5:40 and out the door at 6am. Drive 30 minutes to Burgaw from Wilmington and get our race packs and start stretching and getting ready. Stephanie ended up walking the event with her step-sister due to her injury.

I still felt sickish when the race started. But I went ahead anyways. Here is a short recap of the race.

The course was worse that awful. It was flat (that was a plus) but it was very poorly designed! 4 "u-turns" and none of them had volunteers manning them, so sadly people cheated!!! Stephanie also brought to my attention on the car ride back that there was one u-turn that you didn't have to run to the end to, that there was a small spray painted green dot that people were turning at. I just followed the folks ahead of me, and I think we all ran too far.

My Nike+ messed up during the race. The race was not marked very well so I clicked into my Nike+ to see how far I had left and it told me that I had ran 3.7 miles already. There was no way this was possible! Ugh! Frustrated!

And here is the stinkin' icing on the cake... it was 6 seconds slower than my 5k 2 weeks ago! WHAT!? I ran the whole time! I didn't walk a step! Stephanie tried to make me feel better by saying that running the whole time is more important than your finish time. Endurance is more important than speed, she said.

The rest of Saturday was awesome! Beach, good friends, food, and fun! :)

First 5k Race

So today was the big day. My first 5k race!

I was nervous, and I started out way to fast! I had completed the first mile and a half in 11 minutes... not a pace I could keep! So I did end up walking some :( Not what I wanted to do, but between starting too fast and the heat I just felt that it was better to take a moment and walk, and then pick up a better pace.

So here are a few highlights of my run:
There was a dude running barefoot. We raced on the road!
There was this lady that was "messing" with me the whole last half of the race. I was keeping a decent pace and she would be all up on me! Then she would cut in front of me and slow down. My long legs couldn't handle her small stride, so I would go around her. This continued till I could see the finish line. So when I could see the finish I started to "bring it". I was clipping along pretty well and then guess who thinks she is going to pass me!? That lady! OH NO SHE DIDN'T is the exact words that went through my brain. I busted out 1998 track skills and DUSTED that lady! It was the best feeling in the entire world! Take that lady! I am still pumped thinking about it! Actually I passed another person in that little stretch too :)

So my time was a little more than I wished. I wanted to finish in 30 or under and I ended up with a 31:52 (chip time). In my age group 20-29, there were 63 women and I came in 21st. So I don't think that is too bad. Grand total (men & women) 597, I came in 238. Not as great as I wanted but I am only on week 7 of my Couch to 5k, so maybe in 2 weeks I will be there!!!

Check out my cheerleader! She was so happy for me!

Big thanks to Matt and Dutchie for being my cheering squad! I love you both!