I sent my box over to Katie at 2 Peas in a Blog so be sure to check out all the goodies I sent her from Trader Joe's!
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Over the long Memorial Day weekend, I made the trek back to Iowa for a cousin's graduation party. I ended up not getting there till about 10 pm because I made a rash decision to grab a drink with my coworkers for a little F.A.C., except now I suppose I should call it F.A.W. It was such a beautiful day and I wanted to enjoy the sunshine a bit before being bottled up in the car for 3.5 hours. Who can blame me, right?
Of course, I am incredibly lazy and didn't get a card for my cousin. After a few cold ones (Busch Light and Bud Light are the beers of choice in Dubuque County) and a round of card games, I had the bright idea to make my own card out of some notebook paper. I wish I had taken a picture because it was hilarious looking. Here's an idea of what it looked like.
I included my address as well since they couldn't send me an invitation since they didn't know my address. I'm so thoughtful. My cousin Kristin somehow convinced both me and my mom to do a 5K with her in a nearby town the next morning. This all seemed like a grand idea when it was 11 o'clock, but by the time 3 am rolled around and we were still at the graduation party shootin' the sh*t with my family, it seemed like a terrible idea. Just imagine how bad it seemed at 7:30 am when Kristin called me to see if I was going or not! Blerg. I seriously thought it was the middle of the night when she called me, not morning.
At this point, I could already hear my mom moving around upstairs and since I just knew she would be coming down to wake me up any minute I made the decision to do the race. Slowly dragging my sleep-deprived self upstairs, I somehow managed to put on a running outfit and slam down some water. I definitely didn't feel very hungover but knew I was dehydrated.
My mom and I drove up to the race and got all signed up. This was a small local race and they ended up with a record busting 625 runners/walkers! The race was a fundraiser for melanoma prevention and at the beginning of the race, the announcer listed off a few of the things they've done so far including putting covers over dugouts at little league softball and baseball fields, handing out sunscreen at pools and golf courses, and a "Ban the Tan" campaign to keep high schoolers out of tanning beds especially around Prom season. Great ideas!
The race was only clock timed with no chips and I had no idea where to line up in the pack. I was much to far back and ended up passing a lot of people within the first half mile. Almost as soon as I started running I start ed feeling the effects from a night of drinking followed by very little sleep. I didn't really start the race with a goal in mind except to finish under 30 minutes and survive. I was trying to push my pace to be a little bit uncomfortable but my stomach was not really feeling it. The course was set up to be fairly hilly. No super bad inclines but you were either going up or down the whole time.
The first half mile was downhill and the remaining portion was uphill. I was still passing quite a bit of people at this point and my first mile clocked in at 8:46. Pretty good for how crappy I felt. I was just trying to focus on keeping my breathing steady and controlled and pushing my pace a bit. The second mile clocked in at just at 9 minutes (approximately, I was just glancing at my watch).
For the third mile I tried to pick up the pace a little bit, but my stomach still felt a little funky so I didn't end up going much faster. Before you can climb the hill to the finish line they shoot you out into a little out-and-back that is further downhill. The downhill was nice but I knew that I wasn't going to like hoofing it back uphill.
I didn't.
But I could see the finish line at the top of the hill and it was only a half mile away. I chugged up the hill and tried to prevent myself from mentally giving up. Apparently it worked a little bit. I picked up the speed when I got close to the clock to try to beat the guy next to me. He ended up coming in a second in front of me but I finished with a clock time of 27:07 which calculates out to an average pace of 8:41. So I guess I did pick up my pace for the last 1.1 miles.
I'll call that my 5K PR since I've never ran a 5K race before.
After the race I ate half a banana and drank a whole bottle of water. I was still thirsty. I even got to chat with my high school golf coach for a bit. It was nice to catch up with her.
One of these times, I am going to actually race without being sick or hungover. Seriously.
