Run with the Dogs 5K 2013

So back in December, I started looking at some 5Ks and 10Ks that we routinely do at the beginning of the year.  Run with the Dogs was January 12.  D had to work.  A was hitting some financial woes (company bought out and huge layoffs will happen), so who was I going to run with.  Not to mention, even if A were to run, she now has a dog.  So who was going to give me their dog scarf?

I sign up for the race.  Within the same hour, J emails me about his 40th birthday and what should he do for it.  I realize I have a 15K on the 13th.  So whatever he does, I'm going to have to cut my night short. (What I'm really thinking is that, "Oh, I only have to run 9 miles on Sunday so we should party like rock stars."  But I have done that before and it doesn't really work.)  I tell J that I will have to be semi-lame for his birthday and that I'm doing this 5K and he should do it.  And that if he does, I want his scarf...  He signs up.  I should mention J doesn't run (yet).

So Friday the 11th comes.  I'm trying to make plans coordinating with A on getting our 15K race packets while planning on stuff with J.  J and I have plans to go to a brewery at 2pm on Saturday, so I have to get everything else done after the race and before the brewery.  I decide to pick up the packets on Friday. J and I decide to meet for the 5K at my house on Saturday at 8am.

Saturday at 715, I finally get out of bed and do all the various things I have to do.  It is January, so of course the weather is 62 degrees.  Wait!  What?  Yes, 62 degrees.  87% humidity.  At 8am, J shows up.  I do a few things and off we go.  I am pretty sure he is a bit nervous, and I am talking incessantly because well, I always talk incessantly in the car.

We get to Decatur High School and park and go register.  I hear the woman ask J if he is running with a dog, and he says, "No."  I yell across a few volunteers, "You are running with a dog." J looks at me and he tells the lady that yes, he is running with a dog.  He gets the coveted 2nd scarf!  We finish getting our stuff and drop everything off at the car.

We look at some dogs (McM and SB stayed home), and finally the race is getting started.  For once it started close to on time.  We see our friend R while about to start. Say hi, and then the race started.

The course is the same as it was last year, which is a first (it has changed every year I have run it).  J and I ran together.  I have to say that was weird.  I have never run with someone, so I couldn't tell if I was holding him back or not.  We turned into a neighborhood, and ran. J was looking at the houses, so now I was definitely sure I was holding him back.  I told him not to let me hold him back. He started laughing and assured me that was not the case.  I knew I was holding a little in my legs because of the 15K the next day.  So I decided I would do the 9 minute run/1 minute walk.  I saw we were at 7 minutes and told J I was going to walk in 2 minutes.  He said ok.  We did.  We got out of the neighborhood and back onto Howard. We hit mile 1 at 12:13.  J informed me he was going to walk some and he would catch up.   So I continued.  The next time I was to walk 1 minute it was a really long down hill, so I decided not to.

I laughed at the water break.  Decatur is a notoriously green city.  I have never heard so many people bitch about the fact there were no recycling bins for the cups. (they were on the ground).  This race is for the HS.  The students volunteer.  I think the cups will be cleaned up (like in every other race around the country). 

Mile 2 occurred around 12:47.  I still felt decent.  I knew I had 2 more hills to climb.  I got to the near top of one at the end of 9 minutes.  I walked.  The humidity was killing my lungs.  My legs felt fine.  Ended that minute and resumed running.  Until the next hill, I ran with this woman.  She had a nice pace but apparently she didn't do hills.  I try to emulate D on hills. He thinks hills are over-rated and manages to keep the same pace up and down, so he usually can pass a lot of people.  I do slow down a little, but I stay focused on them.  And sure enough I was at the top.  Only downhill to go.

I raced to the bottom (and the finish line).  It was a little sad that D and A weren't there to congratulate me (they are always there).  I filled out my time 39:35 and ran to get some water.  I'm glad I did because I took 2 of the last 6.  Someone bitched I took 2, but I looked up to see J crossing the line, so I pointed at him and said 1 was for him.  I ran back to the finish line to get him some water, and help him fill out his time.

He was smiling.  He PR'd (of course!)... Later, when I looked, I saw I PR'd the course.  This year 39:30. Last year 40:53.

Woohoo:
Splits: 2013 (2012)
Mile 1: 12:13 (12:58)
Mile 2: 12:47 (13:13)
Mile 3: 13:08
Finish: 39:30(40:53)

We stopped and got a beer, and came home.  Then we went out to lunch and the brewery.  D met up with us for dinner of pizza and beer (for J...I was Diet Coke).

Go us!

J and I celebrated with a Jailhouse Breakout Stout

The boys almost looking at the camera

The boys laying long enough to get a picture together

McMenamin in his new scarf with Panda

Scuttlebutt in his new scarf.