I Got A Trophy (or: Good Karma Gets Good Results): L'Chaim 5K Recap
Remember last night when I was all like, "oh, I'm gonna run, then I'm gonna grab my bib and go to the race" ... yeah, no. Stupid rain. I couldn't get myself outside and I couldn't muster up the energy to go on the treadmill. My dad ended up driving me to the opening ceremonies, and I don't know if I'm even going to get in my additional planned 3 miles today. We shall see.
Anyway ... the race.
Pre-Race:
I got there for the end of the opening ceremonies. I talked to another runner (not someone I know personally, but someone who I do occasionally see out running), a little bit about skirts and a little bit about runDisney (she, like me, is sad that most of the 10Ks are on Saturday ... she wants to do Princess Weekend with her girls, but she won't do Saturday races and the race they want is the 10K).
I eventually went into the opening ceremonies area to take a picture of the band:
That's A Shur Thing, a local religious band that they get every year. I'm 99% sure it's a father and his sons. Decent music.
Anyway ... once the opening ceremony was over, we walked over to the start area. Because there's no fancy start line, just a painted line on the street, people were unsure where to start, but got it figured out eventually.
The Race:
I posted this picture while waiting to start:
That doesn't even do the rain justice. It was a little very wet.
The plan for this race was to take it easy. I think I started a drop fast, but settled in. At one point in time a woman came up and started talking to me, and we kept talking, alternating running and walking depending on how she was feeling. I told her about doing set intervals and using my watch, but I couldn't really hear my watch so well because of the rain.
About halfway through the race, when we hit a downhill, I started to try to use my intervals, and my new friend came with. We ended up run/walking the race together. This was her first 5K (and she had just started running consistently over the last few weeks), and she kept up with me really well. I kept trying to encourage her and tell her how well she was doing, and she was very grateful that I was helping her out.
As we were getting close to the finish line, I looked at my watch and told her we'd be coming in below 45 minutes - not bad at all for a first 5K! We ended up finishing in ~
42:11.
Overall Stats:
Gun Time: 42:10.92 (13:34/mi)
Garmin Time: 42:06 (for 3.06 miles)
Overall Place: 88 of 127
Gender Place: 28 of 51
Age Group (F 30-34) Place: 1 of 3
Thoughts:
As some of you know, I'm very religious. I wasn't originally planning to run this race if it rained, but I saw the shirt and really liked it, so I decided to do it despite the bad weather. And I can't help but think that there was a greater plan involved here, and G-d put me in the right place to help my new friend make it through her first race. And I think that because I was in the right place and took up my mission, I was rewarded with an AG win.
I know that the logical answer is that not that many people ran this race, and that's how I ended up being the fastest person in my age group despite finishing slower than planned. But when you do good things, good things happen to you, and I think that my fancy trophy was a reward for me helping someone else. It was kinda my Des Linden moment (complete with crappy weather) - helping someone else helped me reach my goal.
Post-Race:
I stuck around for a banana, some ice cream, and just to chill. They presented the awards, and I grabbed this thing:
Once I got my trophy, I went home. I thought about doing my remaining 3 miles then, because the rain had let up a bit, but I was wet and cold and needed to get into some dry clothes, so that was a no.
What's Next:
Italy Run next Sunday! I already have my stuff for that race, so expect a pre-race update soonish (like within the next 2-3 days).