St. Patrick's Day 5 Mile Run

This past weekend was filled with RUNNING! Saturday morning I had the St. Patrick's Day 5 Mile Race. It started at 9am, so I got downtown around 8:15am. My husband and son were going to meet me down there. I was suppose to meet up with my friend S (her very first race) and her husband and one of his friends. Well, when I go down there, it was SUPER crowded...people were everywhere! I looked and looked for S and just couldn't find her. As it got closer to race time, I started getting nervous for her....It was her first race, and I was sooo sad I wouldn't be there to run it with her.

Finally they sang the National Anthem, and then the gun went off, and we were off...well, not really...with sooo many people, I stood there in the sea of people for probably 5 minutes or so, before we started to move....S-L-O-W-L-Y! Then we started to run, and everyone cheered...and then we STOPPED again! Then, finally we took off. Thank goodness for the chip for my shoe to help with calculating the correct time.

So, when I finally took off, I was running at a pretty good pace just watching all of the crazy people around me...It was a swarm of green everywhere! I saw girls in tutus (made me think of B), girls with knee high St. Patty's Day socks, a guy dressed as a banana, and two crazy guys with nothing on except St. Patty's Day whitie tighties and beer fanny packs around their waist. I was sooo wishing I had a camera!

The first mile or so was pretty good, and then the course stared to gradually go uphill. Not hilly, but the gradual uphill that your legs feel, and makes you feel like you are running in slow motion. This continued until I got to the section of the course that looped us back up the next street towards the finish. This was also pretty inclined, with a few down hills. At around mile 3.5, they had two water stops, and I missed them both! I was starting to get really hot, and yanked off my gloves. I decided to do my Gu at that point (lime flavored...green of course) but, had no water to wash it down. At about that point, I looked over to my left and there was my little buster and my husband. They were just walking around the corner and we just happened to see each other. This made me SUPER excited and pushed me into the last 1.5 miles with more energy. (even though, I realized they wouldn't be at the finish to take any pictures of me crossing the finish line...but at least I got to see them throughout the race)

Finally with about 1 mile left, I came across another water station, and was able to snag a cup of water, but not before the guy in front of me grabbed his, which with the wind made some of his water slam me in the face!

At this point, I hit the turn that would lead me to the finish. I was looking on both sides trying to find my parents...and of course, I see my dad, towering over everyone, and I yelled for them. They cheered me across the finish!

I was excited to be done (it was a fairly challenging run) It wasn't until later that I found S and her husband. Her husband had stayed back and ran with her...and she finished and did a great job!

I grabbed a sports drink, and went to the beer tent where they were giving away free beer. I grabbed one for my dad and husband and then we decided to head somewhere to eat lunch, because it was too cold to hang around for the parade.

It was an exciting race, and until I got home and checked my final time, I wasn't sure what I had ran it in...Online, the final time said:

Time: 45:57

Pace: 9:12

Overall Place: 2407 out of 7960

I was ecstatic! This was the fastest I had ever run 5 miles! So, needless to say, the race was a success!