Emerald Miles: Full Recap

So I had a bit of a goal going into this race. Blech. Goals. You know how I feel about those. I didn't make this one for myself, though. I kind of adopted it from Caitlin. I wanted to run the whole stinkin' thing.

Since she and I had a great 3.1-mile run two weeks ago, I knew we had a pretty good chance of making it happen.

So anyway, backing up a bit ...

I had some buddies in this run. Caitlin, of course. This was her first 5K and the one she wanted to complete before her birthday later this month. Matt also jumped on the bandwagon.

Caitlin in her first race T-shirt and race bib. YAY!

The three of us before the race. (Thanks for the pictures!)

We couldn't have asked for a better mid-March day to run the first race of the season. It was warm enough to leave the gloves, fleece vest, and ear-covering headband in the car. The sky was completely clear and the sun was shining.

The starting line at the start of the Purple People Bridge in Newport, Kentucky.

We found out mid last week that the mighty Ohio had overrun its banks so much that our race route was underwater. During packet pick up on Thursday, they assured us that there was a new path and that it was flatter than the old one (YAY!) Unfortunately, it wasn't all that much flatter. There was still a monster hill to climb during the last half mile of the run. Slow and long. Whew.

So yeah, unfortunately that hill had me pretty much convinced from the beginning that I wasn't going to be able to run the whole time. I'm wicked bad on hills, which should make the Pig really fun. I walked for a total of maybe 1:30 to 2 minutes in three different places. Two of those were really brief, one (on the hill) was much longer. I stayed in front of Caitlin until the hill up to the bridge where, as I predicted, she kicked my butt and got a nice distance ahead of me. Go girl!

As I finally got to the top of the hill (the middle of the Purple People Bridge), I could see the finish line and REALLY wanted to sprint to the finish. Yeah, turns out it was a bit further away than I thought. That was the hardest I've worked during a finishing stretch yet. My body just did not want to go any faster and I couldn't catch up with Caitlin.

Caitlin finishing. I'm in the white long-sleeved T-shirt over her right shoulder.

All in all, I'm pleased with myself. I set a new PR and I ran more than I could have dreamed I would at my last 5K. Very cool!

Me, post-run and post-post-run-snack, quite content to be sitting and leaving a monster butt print on the pavement.

Somehow they captured our finishing times and pace without timing chips. Someone will have to explain that to me. Anyway, here's the screen shot of mine and Caitlin's finishing times. Matt, the newest runner of the three of us, came in around 33 minutes (WOOHOO!) and kicked both of our butts.

There we are!

The good news is I won't be running another 5K until mid-May (Forest Hills 5K). That will be after a 10K, after a half marathon, and after completing another 4-week session of boot camp. I should be hot to trot! (Oh yeah, looks like Caitlin and I are doing the Rat Race 10K. Yikes again!)

And to wrap up, here's our group post-race picture.

Great job you two!