Thanksgiving Day 5K Race Report

First of all..this race started at 9:00 a.m. ALL races should start at 9:00. It was like race day heaven getting to sleep in like that.

I was a little nervous driving to the race (with my sister Amanda), but not like I have been for other races. Mostly I was afraid we wouldn't find my sister, Crystal. Even though she is much faster than I am, she said she would run with me and pace me at my 8:30 mile goal pace.

When we got to the packet pickup area, it was cold! Really though, once we started running it was fine. I think the temperature was in the upper 30s. Amanda and I found Eric (my brother) and Crystal, and we went to the start area.

Eric, Crystal, Amanda and I found the 8:00 start group and found spots about halfway back in the group thinking those people would be running about an 8:30 mile. WRONG! When we got to the starting line, they were pacing about 10:00. So much for my plan to run an 8:15 first mile.

My brother is a pretty tall dude, so he started weaving in and out of people and I just followed him. He got us all to where we needed to be pretty quick, but it was exhausting having to start and stop and weave in and out like that.

From there, Crystal ran with me and encouraged me the whole way.

"Pick it up!"

"Ok, run fast to the next light pole."

"Push it to the stop sign."

"Let's make up some time going down this hill!"

I don't have my usual mile splits because my battery was dead. Crystal said that was a good thing because we were running 7 something minute miles at one point and I would have wanted to slow down. She was right. I would have. I felt like I was going to barf up a lung for most of the race. It's a good thing I didn't because I only made my goal time by 3 seconds. Finish time was 26:21! A new 5K PR! And my hamstrings are still sore.

Thanks again, Crystal!!!

Guess what the finish line food was!?! Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Ya, that's what I said...Krispy Kremes. I was in heaven. Oh, they had the regular bananas and healthy stuff. But I was all over those doughnuts.