That’s right – SCORE!
And now you’re probably thinking to yourself – ‘now what happened’ right?
Well it might not be a big thing for some people, but it was a big thing for me. Last night I ran in the 5k in one of our local towns and I WON my age group. I can’t remember if there was 9 or 11 in our group and I came in first. Yup, I did it.
Did I have to work for it? Oh my gosh yes!
All during the day it was raining, raining, and then raining some more. And not only was it raining but with over 5 inches of rain within a short amount of time there was also a lot of flooding going onbagain. I knew the guy who was organizing the race and he said that they were going to have it unless it started to lightening. OK, I’m going to go for it.
So I planned my day. I had enough food to feed a family of four at work I swear. I ended up eating 6 times before the race. But I didn’t want to be hungry and putter out on the course so I just kept eating.
Next thing was to plan to drink enough water. And was I successful? I think maybe too successful. I usually try to drink around a gallon of water a day and I think I might have exceeded it.
So I had enough food and water in me, now what should I wear? It was still lightly raining when I got into the car to leave, so I was wearing cropped spandex pants, tank top with a short sleeved shirt over it, and had a long sleeved shirt with me. I was ready and I was prepared!
Once I got to the town to pick up my running tag, I found out that I really drank too much water throughout the day (I picked up another bottle for the way there) and I made a bee line to the grocery stores bathroom. Now with my banner on, I was getting kinda cold and decided to put on my long sleeve shirt. Whew! That felt better. OK, now I was getting hot – so back to the car and switched into my t-shirt again with just minutes to spare before the race started.
With Johnny Cash playing on my iPod and with myself saying over and over in my head that I can do this – we were soon off. I felt really good running and thought – hey this isn’t that bad and maybe I will place for a medal which was my goal for the night.
As the track went around the town and back into the fields, I wasn’t watching and I found myself ankle deep in water. So not cool. But I kept going and still was feeling pretty good. I kept a good pace and then when we hit the last mile I thought to myself – keep going, keep going. I even passed a couple of guys which felt pretty awesome. Usually people with baby strollers pass me 🙂
Then it happened. Out of the corner of my eye I saw this green shirt beside me. I tried to be nonchalant and glanced over. OH NO!! She looked about my age. Well there was no way I was going to let her pass me even if it would make me puke in public! So I picked up the pace… and so did she. OK, here we go… she was bringing it!
So I picked up the pace again and at this time I was just trying to keep breathing and thinking BEAT THIS GIRL, BEAT THIS GIRL! (did I ever tell you that I’m a little competitive? )
As we came to the last corner she was a little bit behind me which was good and now to the final stretch. I gave it my all and so did she. I think she might also had been a little competitive you think? I could hear her feet behind me and no idea how close she actually was until I crossed over the finish line. She was literally right behind me! I beat her by only 1 second. But did I beat her? Yes I did! Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!!
My goal is always to try to be at 30 minutes or less and this race was 30 minutes 18 seconds. Now would I like to have those 19 seconds taken off? You bet. But that will have to be another time.
And when they gave out the awards, my name was called for being in first place. The lady right behind me? Well she was in my age group and she got second.
Check it out! 
