I ma back from my 5 Miler Arts Alive for Comfort and Hospice Care. Very nicely planned event, this was the first year. There were about 200 participants and it was only 2 miles from my home so I knew the territory well.
The race started at 11:00am and I was a nervous wreck. I always am and don't know why. For those that were following the weekly thread, I am suffering from foot pain (PF) and wasn't sure I should even attempt to run. I ran on Wednesday and it wasn't good. So I rested the last 2 1/2 days and then used OTC Orthotics (recommended before I make the investment in custom) and that seemed to really help me. ALSO, I woke up with a chest cold. That on top of my asthma made it hard to breath.
All week we have been battling high winds and snow. That has since moved to the East (sorry) and I woke up to sun and moderate winds. I could have done without the wind, but it was ok. Then temp was about 45-50 degrees, but the sun helped. I started in the middle of the pack and stayed there. I used my Garmin and loved know how far I had gone and how much was left. It kept me going. Just before the 2 mile point, and annoying lady that was tailing me the whole way decided to pass me. Then she played games with me for a whole mile. I must have been her marker or something because every time I would get close to her, she would look over her shoulder and zoom off. Well, she had short jog periods so it was getting annoying to me. At mile 3 I zoomed past her and left her behind for the rest of the race.
About 100 feet from the finish, my DDalmost4 came running to me. Of course she ran straight at me instead of to the side, so I did trip over her. I DIDN'T FALL! WE then ran together to the finish. Some of the onlookers yelled at me to hurry up and finish, but who cares about the time, I only lost 20 seconds going with my daughter... geesh. So I crossed the finish and got a big hug from the volunteer taking my bib tag. She was the nurse practitioner that diagnosed me with asthma last summer and sent me off to my doctor. She also is the president of the local running group that I did some run/walk training with (I don't belong to the group tho). Anyhoo, she remembered me and congratulated me. That was nice.
Afterwards there was free beer and an energy drink called Lost. That was interesting. Not something I would drink for running tho. They also had a nice food spread of subs, chili, banana's, bagels (fresh ones, not the pasty frozen ones) and cookies. My DH and kids were able to pay $3 and have food also, so that was nice. I didn't drink the beer, but the main sponsor was the local beer distributer, so that is why beer. The race actually started at their business.
Here are a couple pics...
Me at the start of the race.
Me at the end of the race, DD is behind me and the lady in orange is the one that hugged me.
The great thing is that I am not even sore after 5 miles. I took a nap because of my cold, but the rest of my body feels good. OH and I finished in 61:30ish. I wanted to finish in 58, but with my cold I was struggling with breathing. I was very happy with my finish which was about a 12:30ish minute mile average.