St. Joseph’s 5K and running the hill

Here’s a proud girl who got to have 3 fun days of equestrian camp.  They had a mock horse show and she won a ribbon for her skills steering her horse.

Recap of Friday night… remember when my kids ran the Kids Glass City Marathon?  Well, they got a bunch of coupons for free items at Chick-Fil-A.  We don’t go out to eat very often, but we definitely like to take advantage of deals when we get them.  We had a meal for the family (2 kids meals, 2 sandwiches, 2 waffle fries, a milkshake, and a cookie) for only $7.95!  Deal!!  And to top it off, their employees were the most polite, helpful workers we have ever run into.  I even wrote a nice note on the company website to let the manager know!

Saturday morning was my 5K race.  I was really wondering how the race was going to go down.  Running this week made me question if there was something wrong with me and wondered if I could even continuously run 3 miles!  I know, that’s a bit dramatic, but I’ve heard stories of people having serious health issues where they start the same way – “I couldn’t even run a mile anymore…”, so that always freaks me out a bit when I struggle.  Anyhow, back to my story…. The weather was looking pretty rough at race start – another day of high humidity, 94%!  The temperature was a little cooler at 63 degrees.

I had thought about running a larger race today, but this race was super close to my house and it supported the church that my boss belongs to.  Small race.  Close to home.  Doing good for the community.  All wins!  I think there were only 125 people in the 5K, and a lot of them were kids and families.  When the gun went off I noticed a group of kids sprinting in front of me.  No way these kids were going to last past 1 mile.  I’ve seen this scenario many times.  But after 2 miles those kids were still cruising way ahead of me!  Impressive.

I had only one screen on my Garmin and it showed my distance and my overall pace.  I was hoping to get under 8:00 min miles.  First mile clocked in a 7:55.  Hey, not bad at all, considering this humidity!!  Mile 2 had a surprise – a long stretch up a very steep hill.  Oh man.  That sucked.  My Garmin data showed my pace was as slow as 11:02 at the end of that hill climb.  And equally surprising, I was blasting out a 6:15 pace on the way down that hill!!

Mile 2 came in at 8:08.  Doing the math, I’m thinking I could be getting a PR at this race  Nice!  Mile 3 was 8:06, and we finished the last 1/2 mile with another climb up a hill to the finish line.  Ugh.  Crossed the finish line red faced,  dripping with sweat, panting, and completely exhausted.  25:08   Not a PR (24:57 last year), but good enough for 2nd in my age group.

Ironically, the first place in my age group went to the girlfriend of my husband’s “race competition”.  We have a lot of races around our town so we get to know who is in our age group and which people are the “competition”.  Looks like I’ve got someone to look out for now too! 😉

Here’s the best part though… apparently my race entry form went into a raffle, which I was unaware of.  As I was waiting for the awards I found out I won the raffle and got a $25 gift certificate to one of the local running shops!  Woooooohoo!   Good day all around.

After the race I went home I ran 2 more miles with my son.  I came up with a summer running “contest” with the kids to keep them motivated, and to help my daughter get ready for cross country in the Fall.  It’s the “50 mile club” and I promised them some great reward if they could run 50 miles by the time summer starts.  My daughter has already showed signs of competition by telling my husband that she didn’t want her brother to run with them because she wanted to “beat him”!  I wasn’t even trying to get the kids competing against each other, but I guess I can chalk that up to sibling rivalry!!  Gotta love it.

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Q:  Do you have any sibling rivalry in your family?

My brother and I weren’t really into the same things,  so I don’t remember it.  But my Mom might have a different story!

Q: Have you ever won anything at a race?

I came in 3rd place in my age group at the Glass City Marathon last year so I got the hat I’m wearing in the picture above.  Also some arm warmers and a nice bag.

Q: Got any plans for Sunday, or just relaxing like me?