Epic Win!

Yay me!  I made it!  
326th out of 378!
326 211 Nan Shellabarger 57 F Silver Spring MD 38:53 38:30 12:24

How about that!  These are the official race results - my official time is 38:30, for an average pace of 12:24.

It was a crisp and cold morning - around 41 degrees when I left the house. I got up at 5 am, so that I'd have a chance to drink significant coffee before running. I got there really early, because I wasn't sure how it would go.  There were lots of people hanging around on the plaza, and I walked around anxiously, trying to keep warm.  

I huddled in my sweatshirt, but I knew I'd get hot as soon as I started. They had a "bag drop", however, so with about 15 minutes to go I shed the layer and wandered towards the starting line. 

There was a big crowd!  Nearly 400 people, I found out.  There were far too many people to all cross the starting line at the same time, but they have electronic timing with some kind of disposable transponder in the race number "bib". I didn't know much about protocol, but I figured out the fastest runners should start near the front - so the one to cross the finish line first would also end up being the ones with the fastest time. 

Loud music was playing, and they started the race exactly on time.

People jostled a bit in the first few yards, but we sorted ourselves out to different paces pretty quickly.  I never fell into pace to run alongside anyone, but I did keep overtaking the same people. I maintained a steady jog throughout, but there were a lot of people who ran past me, then walked for a while and I passed them, then they took up running again and left me behind.  The course was out-and-back, and I saw people coming back the other way before I got to the half way point.  The fastest time was about 17 minutes!

I had visions of emulating Sheryl Yvette who constantly snaps on the move, but I just took the one picture after we started.  I had my phone in my hand, using it as an ipod, but it was just too complicated to compose a shot while moving - especially not one of myself!  

The music definitely helped me keep going, especially on the brutal hill that made up the last 3/4 mile of the course.  The only time I fell into a walk was for thirty seconds or so on some of the steepest parts.  My heart rate stayed in the high 140's for most of the course, and only went up above 150 as I pushed to the end.

Here is more detail than anyone could want on my stats:  Earth Day 5K.

I really liked the adrenalin rush. I ran faster and harder than ever before. I was going faster than normal on the first part of the course (downhill) and knew I'd be slow on the up-hill no matter what, so I figured I should just get some distance behind me.  And then I did put on a pretty big push at the end, just because it seemed the thing to do. There were official cheerers, and guys handing out water bottles.

I came home afterwards and looked for more new races to sign up for!  I'm pretty sure if I hadn't been so public about signing up for this one I would have given up the whole running thing a while back.  Now I need more deadlines to keep going.  I am running another neighborhood 5K next week, and after that I'm not sure.  I'd like to keep going. There was a definite strut in my step afterwards, and I liked the feeling.