Monday, March 9, 2015

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


WHAS Crusade for Children


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.

Ricky
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.

Panera


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.



Finish


Now onto the 10K!!!

15 comments:

  1. good for you for going girl! i was supposed to do it with a bunch of work people, but they all bailed. plus like i told you, my ankle blah blah. i will be doing the 10k though! i would have thought more people would bail, that race is always SO freaking busy, so if it was still crazy busy i guess not a bunch bailed! i will have to check out those gloves, i want to be more prepared next winter!

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  2. Woohoo!! Congratulations! I love the race-crowd but was hoping for more spectators to encourage along the way. Plus I didn't realize how long Market St was until I saw the big finish inflatable 4 miles down the road ... that felt like the longest part. Looking forward to the 10k and hoping for warmer weather for us all! :)

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    1. I've actually ran Main street so many times that the finish came up faster to me then I expected :)

      yeah - downtown never is a good place for crowd support. Sadly.

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    2. Oops ... meant Main. :) I get the two mixed up in NA all the time ... guess it carried over to L'ville. :) Last year was our first race so any route beats that mess!

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    3. Yeah... I refused to get in that nightmare of a race last year!!!

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  3. You have made me obsessed with that sandwich from Panera. And yes their iced coffee is terrible. At least the one time I had it! GREAT JOB on your race!! You rocked it and now you will rock your 10K. I'm so excited for you! :D

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  4. Congrats, and so what if that was your worst time, you did it and that is all that matters!!!!
    That really sucks about stepping into the frozen water before the race, stepping in any water before or during a race is one of the things I always hope to avoid, because you can't really do much about it once you do. Hopefully, you have good shoes and socks and it didn't bother your feet or blister them at all!
    Very cool though, congrats to both of you! Those sandwich breads look amazing!!!!

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  5. Great job on at least getting out there. I refuse to do any races above the Mason Dixon line from November till April because I know it's probably going to be colder than what I would like...lol Although that hasn't always worked out for me because my race in Florida last month was freezing! Glad to hear that this has you ready for the 10K! You are gonna do great!

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  6. With all of those downs I'd say you did pretty well! Those were tough conditions and the fact that you ran over double the length of the actual race is crazy! Be proud of what you accomplished! That should definitely give you a ton of confidence for your 10k coming up!

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  7. Yay! Congrats on finishing with a smile! It's especially an accomplishment given all the hurdles you had to face before the race even started!

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  8. You did it and that's awesome and keeping that smile to the end is what it's all about! I have to say, I was a little shocked at how there was still some slush/ice in the middle of a few streets.

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  9. Congrats on finishing in that freezing cold weather!! That sandwich from Panera is making my stomach growl!

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  10. I thought about you Saturday morning, from my nice warm bed. ;)
    That's crazy that you ended up with 7 miles total! I think about doing this race every year, but the parking scares me. I am so not good with driving downtown and trying to figure all that out. If I had someone to ride with, I would do it. Maybe next year!

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