5K: Not the Loser

Saturday morning I woke before dawn and ran in my first, ever, road race. And, guess what? I didn't lose. Not by a long shot.

Last February I let my friend Panda talk me into running the 5K for the Olathe, Kansas Marathon. The race was only a warm up for the main event: dressing up in animal costumes and dancing to "Gonna Make You Sweat" by C & C Music Factory. Both were successful, I would say.

Panda ran the half-marathon, which started at 7:00 am. My race didn't start until 7:30, so I got to wait in the Kybo line with her and then watch her take off.

Running the 5k was a little nerve-wracking. For one, the kid's marathon (the last mile in a 26 mile odessy, so much lingo in the running world) was taking off right behind us, and I was panicked thinking of all the little kids blasting past me. For two, my right hip was feeling a little sore the previous week.

At 7:30, I fell into line with the rest of the 5k-ers. Panda's mom (Maggie), husband (Brad), and friend (Rosalie), saw me off. My goals for the race were to jog the entire 3.1 miles and finish. While I did finish, I didn't jog the entire route. After about 2 miles, my sore hip really started hurting and I was discouraged so I slowed to a walk a few times. In future races, I've decided, I need to get a little faster, so I am not in the group of people who walk and run. I need to speed up so I am with the slow-runners.

I am proud to say that I completed the race in 37:11 minutes, a P.R. as they call it in the running world (personal record, yo). I finished 29 out of 44 for my age bracket, and 165/266 for my gender. I wasn't the winner, but more importantly, I wasn't the loser.

After the race, we donned our animal costumes. Panda was the panda, Rosalie was the turkey, and I was the very angry Cheetah. Whether or not our efforts to cheer on the marathoners was appreciated, it is hard for me to say. My cheetah head kept falling in front of my eyes, so I just danced obliviously in my polyester outfit. Then, I drank three Boulevard Wheat beers. By 11:00am, I felt like I'd had a pretty full day.

My hip agreed. Something, sadly, is jacked. I am eager to get back on the workout/eat-right wagon, so I am going to see a doctor today. My hope is that I'll be able to start training for my next 5k (it is such a nice length to run), at the Dam-to-Dam. I also agreed to train for the half-marathon next year with Brad Smith. He's a hard-core biker, but not much of a runner. We'll see who's got more dry heaving skills.

For more comprehensive race coverage, and much better photos, check out Panda's blog.