Saturday was the Run for the Roses 5k race in Prentiss and it nearly started like the Doctor’s Day Dash. (You can read about that debacle in my post “Slow is the New Fast”.)
We woke up super early and “planned” on leaving a little before or by 7 because it was a long drive over and we still had to register and warm up and go to the bathroom one last time. If you haven’t noticed a pattern by now, I’ll point it out. I run late constantly! I never intend to and I really try to leave when I’m supposed to but something just always seems to happen. I end up leaving at the latest time we’re supposed to go instead of the earliest. *Sigh* Most of you that are reading this already know me (some are related to me :)) and know that I’m not exaggerating about this in the least. If you don’t know me personally, just read a few of my blogs and you’ll get the drift. I know it drives Jason insane. I’m so lucky that he’s such a sweet and patient man!
So our race actually began by us racing out of the house and trying to get there in enough time to get everything done. It was foggy and we ended up driving behind the slowest person in the county and it was a no passing zone….so…we were in a bit of a bigger rush by the time we actually got to the race. There were TONS of people there so we were extremely fortunate to find a parking spot right across the street from the sign up booth. Jason is always amped up before a race and running late doesn’t help him with that. He bolted out just as soon as we parked to get to the registration table while I tried to gather my things together and then I caught up with him. When it was finally our turn, we found out that we were at the wrong table (go figure). We also missed out on the race t-shirts because they ran out. Oh, I forgot to mention that the entire time we were trying to register and go to the bathroom there was a man on a bullhorn yelling over and over, “RUNNERS YOU NEED TO LINE UP! WE’RE ABOUT TO START! IT’S A HOT DAY, THE SOONER WE START, THE SOONER WE CAN FINISH!” Thanks mister bullhorn man because we weren’t under enough pressure already, lol! As we ran to the bathrooms, I couldn’t help but wonder if they were going to actually start the race early and Jason’s worse nightmare would come true but luckily, they didn’t! As we were leaving the bathrooms, we heard the faint sound of singing and realized that they were singing the national anthem so we high-tailed it up to the starting line. My ear bud cords were tangled in a knot (what’s new?) and it took nearly the entire time the minister was praying to try to untangle them. I was saying a prayer too and I’m sure the Lord understood that I just couldn’t shut my eyes right then. (He hears us wherever we are!) Well, my prayers were answered because I got them untangled and in my ears just in time to kiss Jason goodbye and take off.
Before I tell you about the race, let me remind you of 3 things that I really don’t enjoy when I run/race: 1.) a track 2.) heat and humidity 3.) hills. Can you guess which one wasn’t part of the race? I’m grateful it wasn’t all 3!
It only took a few steps to realize one thing: I should not have run hills on Thursday!! My legs were feeling tired and I had barely gone half a mile. It was hot…really hot. Not only was it hot but it was humid too and that makes things even worse because you can’t breathe very well when the humidity is so high. I was struggling, to say the least. My legs felt weak. I couldn’t catch my breath. People were passing me like I was standing still. I didn’t care. I hit the wall. I wanted to stop. It’s been awhile since I’ve felt that way and I hate how it feels. I knew that I had to snap out of it. I started telling myself to focus and to get back on track. By the time we were into our 2nd mile, I was feeling a little stronger and into a better zone. I couldn’t let the elements control me. As we turned and went into the final stretch of the race, I was finally back into a groove and looking forward to seeing the finish line. What I wasn’t expecting to see was a steep hill, then another slight hill and to top it off…a hill right before the finish line. I just couldn’t go any faster on that last one. I wanted to but it was all I could do to climb it. I knew that once I got to the top, I could glide my way down and finish. Of course now I look back and think “Why didn’t I go just a little faster up that hill?”. My time was 30:54 but maybe it could have been under 30 if I could have just been a little stronger throughout the race. After racing on hills last weekend in cool weather and racing on hills this weekend in an oven heat, I have to say that heat apparently affects me more than hills do. I don’t know when I’ve been so happy to see a finish line and getting a beautiful long-stemmed rose made things better too.
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Topping the last hill before the finish line!
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Crossing the finish line!!
I didn’t place on Saturday but Jason won 3rd place in his age group, coming in at 22:18! I’m so proud of him! There was some tough competition there.
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Jason receiving his award
By the way, our 16-year-old niece also won 3rd in her age group and my sister-in-law, Donna (her mom) ran the entire race for the very first time!! It was an awesome day overall (minus the heat, lol). We met some very nice people while we were there and had a lot of fun. I’m really glad we were able to take part in it.
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Holding my beautiful rose that they gave all of the ladies when we crossed the finish line.
I have plenty of training to focus on in the weeks to come. The Crescent City Classic is April 23rd and that means that I have to start focus on my 10k runs for a little while. We don’t have a race this coming weekend so we can have a little down time, if there is such a thing with 5 kids! :)
I’m afraid my hill work for the night might be thwarted again with bad weather. Good news is that with no race this weekend I can move things around if I need to without having to risk tired legs.
I hope all of you had a great weekend and if you had runs or races that they went well too! Remember to just try to get 3 days of walking/running in if you possibly can!
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Filed under: Racing, Running Image may be NSFW.
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