Brent Strong 5k
I’ll be honest. I don’t run
a lot of 5k’s.
The problem is that I THINK
they’re going to be a fun short run and then Chrissy and I will go get pancakes
after.
Around the halfway mark I start
to remember that they are actually really hard and uncomfortable and that I
shouldn’t eat a breakfast bar (or donut) 5 minutes before the start.
(I’d like to say this is a onetime
mistake, but…I can’t. I’ve done it multiple times, and I’m comfortable saying I’m
probably going to do it again.)
So after I ate my breakfast
bar while we were getting our pre-race instructions, I lined up with everyone at
the starting line.
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| The P3 crew represented! I couldn't find ANY of my gear that morning! Of course I found it all after the race. |
Oh, and I had left my shiny
new Garmin at Chrissy and Josh’s house the night before so I dug my 310XT out
of the drawer (which was miraculously charged). BUT…I had forgotten how the buttons
work and had a little bit of panic moment that I couldn’t remember where the
start button was. “Wait! I need to “reset” first!...Oh. I already did that. Whew!”
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| This is post race. I had to take my glasses off because they were fogging up. Photo Credit: Karen Burkey |
Then we were off!
I grabbed the 2nd
place spot pretty quickly, although I had been eyeing the other runners before
the start (I know you do it too) and was expecting someone to pass me at any moment.
We were running the trails
at Millersylvania State Park and despite the recent rain the trails were in
really good condition. They aren’t considered “technical” in the worst
condition, but it’s still nice not to be slipping or sliding around in mud.
The race volunteers had
marked the course really well with caution tape and little arrow signs. I was
following the kid in front of me and for no real reason figured he knew the
course…but he didn’t. Someone had torn down (probably driven through) a section
that was blocked off and as I ran across the fallen tape I thought “That looks
like someone tore it down. I think I’m going the wrong direction.” But…I kept
going. That is, until I heard the guys behind me yelling at me that I was going
the wrong way. Which I thought was very nice of them.
Of course whenever something
like that happens during a race it throws your rhythm off, and then you feel
like you have to hurry to get back to where you were before you didn’t pay
attention and torpedoed your race…
So I sped up and passed
everyone that had passed me during my detour and it was really hard.
The combination of nursing a
cold, running, fall and eating a breakfast bar at the start line resulted in an
enormous amount of phlegm in the back of my throat. I managed to spit half of
it onto the ground in a competent manner and the other half flew back into my
own face.
It’s not the first time it’s
happened…it won’t be the last.
But the weather was perfect,
the trail was awesome and I gave high fives to the cute (but more importantly nice)
fire fighters who volunteered and who pointed the way in such an exaggerated manner
that someone must have told them about my earlier blunder.
I finished 2nd
overall because somehow the kid in front of me earlier managed to find his way
back to the start…Dang it!
But what is even better than
2nd place overall?
Being cheered by a tiny wee
bat as you cross the finish line!
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