Rib, Run, and Run 5k Race Report

Let's start this race report with a little confession... on Friday night, I went to a Dove Chocolate party.  I ate a lot of chocolate.  No, not that much... more.  So much that I was giddy all night and couldn't sleep.  Way too much sugar and caffeine.  I was afraid that I would end up seeing that chocolate a second time at the 5k finish, but would I really let that stop me? 

For once it was nice to be going to a small, local race.  I didn't even have to get up until 6:30am... score!  I picked up my friend, Jenn, at 7:15am.  We were still super early to the race and ended up meandering around for quite some time.  It started to become harder to focus on the race because we kept seeing things like this:

Seriously, this guy was taking a special care in the way he rubbed down those ribs.  Smoker after smoker, the smells filled the air.  If only the rib cook-off would be complete by the end of the race (but no such luck... the judging wasn't until 2pm).  It was hard to walk past all those smells and get to the start line, but we did...

And then at the starting line, Jenn and I had are ultimate dorky blogger moment by taking our own photo... CHEESE. 

I didn't expect to come even close to my PR, but I did want to push it.  And we did... hard... and the course was way hillier than I expected.  Sheesh.  I was seriously sucking air.  I needed a spare set of lungs.  That last mile was harsh... and I pulled back a smidge, but not much.  In the final stretch, crazy Jenn, who is a natural runner despite this being her first 5k, left me in the dust and sprinted it in.  She finished in 29:06, and I came in shortly after at 29:21.  We placed 63rd and 65th out of 210.  Not too bad.  If I'd have just stuck with Jenn, though, despite the hills, I would've PR'd by 1 second.  Oh well.  I have another 5k in a couple weeks...  I'll have to kick it in then.

The race was small and fun.  The crowd was supportive.  The course was reasonably challenging.  And I rather enjoyed my first experience running a race that wasn't thousands of people.  AND it was awesome to run a whole race next to a buddy for the first time... thanks Jenn!  It made it that much more bearable.

Here I am pushing through the finish (I felt awful!!!).

And here I am coming to the finish again after I ran back to run in with my sister-in-law on her first 5k (go Ang!).  Also running in with us is my father and my oldest kiddo, Patrick.

Did you notice my awesome sleeve scrunchies???  Don't forget to enter my giveaway!!!

Since I gave up my long run day to do this 5k, I asked Coach Barrett of Rockwall Running Center (who was in charge of Saturday's race) if I could run with his training teams on Sunday to make up for it.  He happily agreed, and I got in 8 hard miles early Sunday morning before rushing home to get ready for church.  It was hilly (again) and challenging, but a nice change of pace.