Atlanta Beltline Southwest 5K

D and I decided a few weeks ago to celebrate our 11th Wedding Anniversary with friends, and not on the date of our anniversary.   Or we decided it was a good excuse for us to roast a pig, and invite people over.  Regardless, 6 miles was on tap.  Last Sunday night, I was sitting on the couch and thinking, "I'm really not going to run 6 miles on the day of the party, in this humidity."  Then yet another email came in from the Atlanta Beltline about their 5K they were having.  My friend V was going to be here, and she runs.  So I was pretty sure she would do it.  D said ok.  V said ok, so we signed up.  D and I decided we would run 6 miles during the week on the treadmills.  That didn't happen...for me it was a technical issue (my bra hook decided to dig and cut up my back).  His was he had shit to do around the house, but we each got in 2 runs before Saturday (and cleaned the house). 

So Friday night, I got home from work.  D and our great friend J were prepping the pig, and I finished the Nutter Butter Butterfinger Cheesecake Bars.  V texted me she would be in around 11-1130pm.  The week had not been mentally great (some stuff at work), and I was exhausted.  OK, I'll just keep going.  I started working on the German Chocolate Cheesecake Cake, and tried to stay awake.  At 9pm, I was fading fast.  J had left to go meet some out of town friends, and D and I were nodding off.  I texted V to just bang on the door and the dogs would wake someone up. 

At 11:15, the dogs were barking, and D and I tried to figure out what was going on, and then remembered V.  We let her in. She looked exhausted.  Our dog McMenamin isn't great with new people (people he has met 100 times, but hasn't seen in the last 10 minutes, so he gets scared).  Lompoc hates people.  So V came in with McM growling and Lompoc barking.  D got them upstairs, and Scuttlebutt pretty much rolled over and gave V his puppy dog eyes, and got petted.  We talked for a few minutes and agreed to meet at the back door in the morning at 640 for our race.

The next morning, we all met at 640 and left for the race.  It was swamp-ass 74 degrees.  You can see the sweat about to land on you before it even does.  It is disgusting out.  We drove over to SW Atlanta.  It was all of 5 miles away (the race, not SW ATL...that's about 2 miles away).  The highlight of the ride was we found the Ace Hardware (the 2 D and I used to frequent have both closed).  We finally found the park, found a parking space and walked to the race and got our numbers.  V was all excited about the chip.  We told her there was no starting mat, and yes that was annoying.  Then we stood in the disgusting weather (can you tell I love the summer in GA?) for about 15 minutes.  D and I saw our old neighbors.  I know the wife placed, because she is a super runner (she qualified for her next Boston Marathon at this year's Boston Marathon).  Then the race director(s) walked us over to a trail.

At 730 we started on a trail.  As someone who always looks down, this part wasn't that bad for me.  I had been worried there might be wet spots/mud/dog-shit, but I didn't see any.  D doesn't look down so it was a little tough for him.  He luckily did look down because he would have tripped over a rail road tie.  Both V and D commented that the walkers starting up front were annoying.  (I said nothing as a slow runner).  So we ran along the trail for .75 miles.  Then onto the paved path.  I, for one, am not a huge fan of the Beltline. In theory yes, but since they paved it with concrete and not asphalt, I can't run on it for training purposes with my hip.  Still I had figured out for a race for less than 3 miles on it I would be ok. When I got to the pavement, I walked (did the 9/1 thing).  I really didn't walk a full minute.  I felt pretty good and I also saw that if I did walk the full minute, I would start running again in the middle of a hill. So I resumed prior.  Somewhere around there was also the mile 1 marker.  It was like .03 short.  My Garmin also left me some other note that said something about memory was full.  I guess since I've never uploaded or deleted anything off the Garmin, that was bound to happen.  I should probably look into that. 

The path took us through trees.  I definitely had sweat running into my eyes.  It was a lot of rolling hills.  Finally we got off the path and on the street, at the start of an uphill of a street.  The one thing I noticed is that SW streets are much nicer than SE, which in turn makes my strategy to get up the hill harder.  In SE the streets are so cracked, that you can just say, "Run to that crack" which is only 3 feet in front of you.  The cracks in SW were more spaced apart so you had to run between telephone polls.  I know, life's little problems.  At 1.5 I was really wanting some water, but there was none.  Finally I ran down a hill and there it was.  I walked for 30 seconds to have that, and then resumed again.  More rolling hills.  All I knew was we were ending on a downhill.  I thought about my friend M who is pregnant and lives in SW.  I practiced my Lamaze breathing in honor of her (or maybe it was my 185 heart rate).  I looked for her street but considering I get so turned around in races, I knew I probably wasn't anywhere near her house. I don't really remember getting to Mile 2 except my watch said it was 1.8.

Finally the race took a turn off the street and back on a path downhill.  And then a sharp turn.  I had to walk twice in this part because of the heart rate, but overall except for the fact my shirt was about 100 pounds of sweat, and I was very thirsty, I felt ok.  The path was pretty empty but I was ok with that.  I knew I was close.  I was so excited to see V (who is a petite white woman), near the finish. As I got closer, it was about a 6 foot tall black man, yelling Hoo-rah.  Maybe I was a little delusional.  I saw D, and that turned out to be a tree.  Hmmm.  Then I saw the Finish.  Please be the Finish. Please be the Finish.  This time I really did see D.  And I saw a lot of volunteers yelling at me to pick up my legs and finish strong.  Finally I crossed the finish line at 3.09 miles.  42:30 was my time (13:45/mile).

D Finishing

V Finishing

A Finishing

I will be honest.  I'm a little disappointed with that. I know I have to listen to my heart.  I know I had surgery and that may be a factor.  I know the humidity made this race suck balls, weatherwise.  But at the beginning of May with little training, I ran a 5K in 41:15.  I was 10 pounds heavier.  Still, I also know I can run, I did run, and I will continue to run.

MAP...Elevation is from someone on Map My Run, hence the 3.07

Afterwards, V and D both handed me water.  And they both know from experience to just let me get my breath and stuff and then talk.  So I worked my way to the T-shirts and we all got ours, and then I asked if we could go to the car and get in the AC.  As we walked back to the car, D and V both commented on women's bras.  They think a bra manufacturer should be at the end of races. They both commented about a large number of women who were getting smacked in the face with the non-support they had.  This made me laugh.  So we drove back over to SE, went to Sonic for soda, and came home.

D, V, and A all finished, and home

And then we had a party.