Ups & Downs of the Anthem 5K - a race recap

Because so much happens in a few short hours for a race, I'm just going to do it in short summaries for my race recap...

 

The Ups & Downs

DOWN // I slept AWFUL the night before.  With my cracked tooth, I slept in my mouth guard, that I haven't slept in for years &it was just uncomfortable, waking me up every hour.  I need my sleep.

DOWN // Woke up & saw the temps outside was 28 degrees.  I was NOT happy.  I have trained all year on my treadmill & have avoided being outside in the cold.  It's moments like this where I realize that's not the smartest.

UP // I still had plenty of good running clothes for layers that made me actually feel OK.

UP // Asics Pink gloves that are SOOO warm. These babies are incredible!!!

UP // A knitted neck warmer.  I had made this for my stack of stock that I'm trying to build up for a possible Etsy store.  But when I saw the temps I thought I need to cover my face & grabbed it out of my pile & put it on. It was a LIFESAVER!!!!

DOWN // Ricky wasn't sure if he was going to run with me or just drop me off & meet me at the finish line.  So in the end, we left the house late & then he decided he wanted to run with me so we had to park.  We got there when all the roads were closed & we had to maneuver to get around... & STILL ended up parking in a hospital parking garage & had to RUN about 1.5 miles to get to the start line..... Nothing like that kind of pressure.

DOWN // As I was running to get to the start, I stepped off a curb & thought it was a little water on the road.  Nope - it was ankle deep of freezing water.  My foot was FROZEN the whole race. 

DOWN // I was on the wrong side of the START line when the buzzer went off.  And the crowd of people cheering on the runners were overwhelming the side walk.   I was EXHAUSTED before I even got from the parking lot to the start line, through the people.

UP // We were able to slide in though & at least I had a good warm up.

UP // It was a great turn out for the race. Wasn't sure what the weather was going to do to people.

UP // LOVE seeing lots of kids running these 5ks.  Get these kids started in a healthy habit.

UP // One little girl had a sweat shirt on that said, "WILL RUN FOR TIARAS".... I want one of those!!!

DOWN // Downtown roads are tight for a few thousand people to squeeze through.  #claustrophobic ... they also hold wind tunnels in between all those buildings.  28 degrees with massive winds?  Brutal

DOWN // Add in snow on tight roads & its even tighter. 

DOWN // & people still try to dodge around the edges & I should just laugh when they have to run in snow piles but I always felt bad.

UP // Ricky was easy to find in the crowd.  Not everyone wears a white ninja mask & has a long pony tail sticking out of it.

Hey - my husband's ponytail is about the same as the lady across from him!

UP // I was just planning on doing a slow pace of 4 minutes walk / 1 minute run but got there & picked it up to 3 min walk / 2 minute run. You'd think it wouldn't make that much of a difference but it did. 

UP // The race seemed to be over before it began.

DOWN // the walk back to the hospital parking garage was FOREVER long because the finish line was even FURTHER away then the start. SO it was about 2 miles back... at the end of the race, we had done over 7 miles.

UP // .... that makes me feel better to know my 10k in 2 weeks is very doable.... as long as parking isn't the same problem

UP // We did our routine - headed to Panera bread after the race.  Avocado, egg white & spinach sandwich & we split a quinoa oatmeal.  Good hearty finish to the day.

DOWN // Panera's iced coffee was disgusting.  They were out of cream so that was the problem.

DOWN // This was truly my worst 5k EVER... like by 4 minutes. That's HUGE....

UP // .... I didn't even care.  I was just glad to have gotten out & done it ... & FINISHED!!!!... & finished with a smile.

Now onto the 10K!!!