5K Report

Do you ever have trouble sleeping when you know you've got to get up for something? That was me on Friday night. The 5K race was Saturday morning and I couldn't sleep Friday night. It was silly. I woke up several times in the night, worried that I would oversleep or something. I think I was paranoid that I would have a bad run. The PTA school carnival was Friday and I spent the entire evening there helping. My awesome dinner consisted of two pieces of pizza and a cookie. (The yummy Lofthouse ones with the frosting. After I ate it I looked at the packaging. 180 calories! For one cookie? Holy crap that was so not worth it. But I digress...) Back to the sleeping thing. I didn't sleep very well. It was ridiculous. I was so mad at myself, thinking why can't I sleep? I'm not nervous, we run this far practically every morning at 6 AM, and I don't even have to get up this time until 7:00. And yet there I was at 3:46 AM calculating how many more hours I had until my alarm went off. How annoying. Thank heaven for the energy of a race atmosphere.

We had so much fun! It made me remember why I love races. I haven't done too many - this is my third. And I don't enter to race, but just to give me a goal and a deadline. But races are a blast. There are so many people all getting pumped up for the same thing. I love the camaraderie you feel with hundreds of complete strangers. Shauna remarked how races are such fascinating money makers and marketing tools. We laughed at how we all pay money so we can run down the road like we do all the time anyway. But hey, you get a shirt out of it and the money goes for a great cause. (In this case, heart services at McKay-Dee hospital.)

We met up with my great neighbor-down-the-street, Nelli, and her friend, Brenda (sorry, no photos of them, oops). Nelli and Brenda ran the 10K. Nelli is preparing for the Marine Corps marathon in D.C. in October. The four of us walked toward the starting line and got a good laugh. There were all of these hard core male racers pushing their way to the front of the start line. They took a look at us and a guy said all seriously, "Go to the back if you're not competitive." Ahem, excuse us, how would he know we weren't competitive? I'd just like to know what tipped him off? Ha!

The weather was beautiful! Absolutely perfect, in fact. It was sunny and cool and just lovely. The run was super. My pizza and lack of uninterrupted sleep must have been a recipe for an excellent run. Shauna and I kept remarking on how good it felt. I'm tellin' ya, that race atmosphere is so fun! We made it to the finish just under our goal time and it felt great. It was one of those times when I really love being out there, breathing heavy, listening to my feet slap the pavement, and just feeling alive. Who's going to be there with me next year?

ps. I had to take a photo of the doughnuts! This was only one of the two tables filled with them. I got a kick out of the oxymoron - doughnuts at a fitness event. It made me giggle.