Bringing Home the Gold

So yesterday was race day. I was not off to the best of starts. Fortunately, my ability to breathe through my nose was back to normal, but there were still phlegmy remnants of my cold. The location ended up being pretty obscure and over an hour's drive away. I only went for a run once this past week and quit after 4 miles, so I wasn't sure what kind of day I was in for.

There were about 130 people registered, but the majority of them did the 5K. My friends and I took off at a snail's pace. There were times when I wanted to walk, but we just kept plodding along. There were several hills along the route, but just when I wanted to stop, we would start to descend and I would be able to build my energy back up. By the halfway point, we had all split off at our own paces.

I didn't bring my iPod, so it was just me and the countryside. Just the sounds of my own rhythmic breathing. Mile 4 was by a cow pasture. That was an incentive to speed it up a bit! That was also the point when I decided I could do this thing, without walking. The only breaks I took were to grab a dixie cup at the water stands and the 15 seconds or so it took of walking for me to gulp the cool liquid down.

The plan was to speed it up for the last quarter mile, but by the time I got there, there wasn't enough reserve left. I ended up running out the last 100 meters or so. My last steps were woozy, but I made it!

I ran my bib number: 1:07, which means I averaged a 10:45 minute mile. That's pretty darn slow!

We stuck around for the door prize drawings at the end and were surprised to find that we all took home medals. The majority of the 10K runners were 40+ and they smoked us! The best time of the day was 47 minutes. I ended up with first place for women 20-29 years. There were only two of us in the bracket, and my friend got the silver. My other friends took gold and silver for the 30-39 year brackets. The guy that won for the 70+ bracket was amazing-- he looked like he was in his 50's! There was this older guy in a yellow shirt that I wanted to catch up to the whole race, but he stayed about a quarter-mile ahead the whole way!

Overall, I am pretty pleased with myself. I have never run even 5 miles continuously. If I keep at it, I am sure I will get faster, but I surprised myself by not having to stop for any breaks!


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The night before the race, I went out with a couple of friends to a new sushi restaurant in town. It was pretty cool because it was remodeled inside to look like a diner. At the counter, there was a long conveyer belt, and the cooks (Are they still called cooks when the fish is raw?) just kept putting out dishes and you picked up whatever looked good as it went by. The plates were color-coded by price. Pretty trendy for not being in the Big City!

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P.S. Call yo' mama today!