Polar Bear 5K

So, I have been working all week. By Saturday morning I had racked up 62 hours. Woohoo!

Friday night, I told my co-worker I was only working until 830p, so I could get a good night’s sleep for my 5K. I got home around 9p, had some pizza that D graciously went and got for me, and went to bed. At 230a, Porter started being crazy and would not lay still. She did this until my alarm went off at 610a.

So I got up as did D, and we got ready. He pretty much has to do everything for me. I couldn’t find a shirt or socks. He found the socks and I borrowed a shirt from him. He took care of the dogs, and off we went to Marietta.

The church that was sponsoring the race was your typical Georgia Baptist Church…f’ing HUGE! Our co-worker was also supposed to do the race, but he didn’t make the cutoff. Only 2K people could run because it was chipped. So it was just me and D. So we got our numbers and our shirts. The shirts are XL and might fit a 125 lb. male. I don’t see how any female with a B or bigger cup could wear this thing. Oh well.

After about 35 minutes, we went back outside to get to the start line. Chip timing…I wish Atlanta would learn how to do this properly. If you are going to have a chip, you need to have a mat. The chip should not start when the gun goes off, because if you are in the back…it’ll take you awhile to cross the start. So anyway, we listened to the God man (aka a pastor) do a prayer. Then the race started. I started the Garmin with 18 seconds already on it (I need to learn how to reset it). I started the Garmin when I crossed the start line. The race had some hills but they all were very small. I crossed Mile 1 at 13:15. I felt good. I passed the finish (the course was 1.5 times around the church). And I got to say, “I HATE PEOPLE!” You see, I hit the entrance to the finish with a huge group of people. A few of them were actually finishing the race, and thus had to cross the path of the slower runners. Not a big deal you would think. Except one fast runner ran into a kid and knocked him down. The blood curdling scream was very lovely to listen too. Even that is understandable…going so fast that you can’t stop in time, not that I would know. But the runner continued running. He didn’t stop nor did he come back. He was booed by us slower people. What an ass!

OK, so that carried me for awhile…how much I hate people. I also noticed there were 4 vet offices on this route. Very weird. So at mile 1.6, someone wanted to know how much farther. Garmin was able to provide us the answer. We passed the church (the start) again. I was getting annoyed by 2 sets of people (named Big Ass and Gold Earring). Both sets were running past me and then would walk. After the 9^th time this just downright had to be stopped. Oh somewhere near here we crossed mile 2: 27:30. So I plotted. My plotting slowed me down some, as I felt as though I was walking, and although I wasn’t, I was going at a 16 min pace. OK, so now I had to beat people and run faster.

The last hill came. I knew I had to make my move. Big Ass (although not as big as mine) and Gold Earring were going to see the last of me. I passed Big Ass and Gold Earring. I got to the top of the hill. My lungs were exploding. I kept pressing on. I started down the hill, and Gold Earring passed me. I was going to have to trip them or something. I passed D and Mile Marker 3. I waved. We got to the entrance to the finish. Gold Earring had slowed. I gave it my all. And I passed GE. Awesome. I crossed the finish line at 42:10 according to the Garmin. Take off the 18 seconds, and that is 41:52. Woohoo! So I walked through the chute and they scanned and took my chip (it was attached to the race number). The official result was 42:30 I think. I’m going with 41:52.

Afterwards, D and I had some water, cookies and a banana, and then went to Einstein’s for a breakfast date. And then like every day this week, I went to work.

Time: 41:52 (run)
Mileage: 3.1 (13:30 min/mile)
Calories: 694
Max HR 189
Avg HR 1686
In Zone 4:07