Race Report: 1st Day 5k

What better way to kick off Marcey's Year of Running (YOR) than with a 5k on January 1st?

However, it could have been an April Fools' Day Race, as the day ended up containing a comedy of errors.

First, there was this:

Adding to the want to just stay in bed was the fact that I did not feel so hot. I've had hints of a cold since mid-December and somehow I keep fighting it off, but it reappears every once in a while. It had appeared again on the morning of January 1st and the thought of running in the cold rain with half of a cold was not appealing.

But then I reminded myself that I should just be grateful that I can even run this race and that Marcey was counting on me. So I pulled out my most rain-resistant running clothes, ate some mini wheats, and headed to the race. Luckily, as I drove the rain stopped. Whew. Being me, I was chronically early, arriving at race parking at 10:20. The race was set to start at 11 and Marcey and I had arranged to meet at 10:30.

I wasn't eager to get out and stand in the cold for longer than I had to, so while I waited for Marcey, I turned on my Run playlist and the two songs that pump me up the most came on back to back:

There is NO better running anthem than Run the World.
Trust me.

When Marcey showed up I jumped in her car to get my race number, which she had so kindly picked up for me. She also gave me my race shirt, which is a hilariously hideous pink faux-tux sweatshirt:

The race was managed out of a facility called ACAC Fitness & Wellness Center. This place was f-a-n-c-y. We went inside and while Marcey made last minute adjustments to her bib, I hit up the bathroom. Of course the line was extremely long, and while I stood I started to fiddle with the pocket of my Brooks Running Vest.

Here's where Comedy of Errors Episode 2 comes in. Given Marcey's past history with her car key at races, I was in charge of the car keys and had zipped them into the pocket of my vest... and now said pocket would not come open again. I pulled as hard as I could on the darn thing but it would not unzip. Then the lady in line behind me offered to give it a try with no luck. I just couldn't believe it - our bad luck with car keys continues - we are both cursed!

At least they wouldn't fall out during the race...

The race itself was in a residential neighborhood just behind the ACAC. Marcey and I barely made it to the start line in time and there was no time to take our traditional pre-race photos.

I hung with Marcey for about 1/3 of a mile before she basically yelled at me to go ahead and go at my own pace, so after our usually "Love you, bye!" routine, I took off. Before I knew it, I was passing a "1" sign, which I assumed was a 1 mile sign. I thought that it had not been nearly long enough yet and looked at my Garmin, which showed only .6 miles. I thought that was funny and assumed that my Garmin was off. Thinking I was already 1 mile into the race, I started to really let loose and pushed myself to run as fast as I comfortably could...

Until my shoe came untied. Because of the rain, I had opted to wear my older pair of shoes. Apparently when this particular pair of shoes gets old, the shoelaces refuse to stay tied. During my earlier runs with Greg at the vita course, the shoelace on the right shoe of this pair came untied every run, without fail. And here it was, keeping up that streak. I begrudgingly stopped to tie the thing and wouldn't you know that less than 5 minutes later, it came undone again. And then the OTHER shoe also came undone! I was literally cursing at the shoelaces by the 4th time. Even with double knots, one managed to come undone again during the last .2 mile and I just left it until after the finish line.  Comedy of Errors Episode 3 - the shoes that refuse to stay tied.

I won't be using them again.

During what I thought was mile 3, I started to feel very tired. I was pushing myself hard but there was no end in sight. I was wondering what on Earth was going on with the course when I came upon a "4" marker and it finally dawned on me that the distance markers were not mile markers - they were kilometer markets.

Duh.

Comedy of Errors Episode 4. Instead of pushing myself for 2 miles, I had started running as fast as I could a mere .6 miles into the race. No wonder I was exhausted.

Thanks to my stupidity, I ended up with a great time of 25:38 and a sub-8:00 mile.

If I hadn't had to stop to tie my stupid shoes, I would've PR'd...

I waited at the finish for Marcey, then collected her and headed back toward the ACAC. On the way, we traded photo ops with another group of ladies. I handed the woman my iPhone to take the photo, forgetting that it was on video mode. The result of this mistake turned into the best photo bomb ever and the highlight of the day:

We watched this over and over, laughing hysterically every time.

Here's the actual photo, which turned out nicely:

Yes, we decided to go twinsies - something I usually detest.. We found these Lululemon running turtlenecks in the We Made Too Much section and instead of convincing each other to NOT buy them, we ended up getting them. We are also both wearing my Christmas gift to Marcey in honor of her YOR resolution:

After satisfactory photos were achieved, we headed back to the ACAC where I borrowed a pair of scissors to break the keys out of my pocket.

Then we went to the finish area to find our photo bomber. We totally found him, showed him the video, and shared a laugh. We told him it was the highlight of our day and we were so glad that he did it.

So there you have it - the First Day 5k. It was my first all-running race since August, and I'm pretty pleased with the result (even if it was accidental and due to my own stupidity). Our next race is the inaugural Love Rox 10k in February.