I am fairly fortunate to live in an area where there are lots of 5Ks, all within an easy distance of my house. And then I saw Skirt Sports was sponsoring a fun 5K in Vancouver, WA (about a 3 hour drive, give or take). So I got some wild hair and decided to drive down and run the 5K. I left in plenty of time to arrive early, but traffic had other ideas. A couple accidents, some roadwork, and a slow down later all my cushion time disappeared. It became a game - could I make up enough time? I seriously hate being late. I am such an early bird, I was stressing at this point, but not enough to turn around and give up. I had come to far at this point. I arrived with 2 minutes to spare. Whew!!
I ran to check in and to my dismay they had just packed up. Was I going to be thwarted after all? But the nice volunteers unpacked enough to give me a race number and send me on my way. I didn't get a chip timer but at this point I was just happy to make the race. I missed the girls' start but was able to start 3 minutes later with the boys. Eh, we knew I was going to be passed by the boys, this way they started in front of me instead of blowing past me! :)
I was a little worried at this point that my fear of being the last one to cross the finish line was really going to come true this race. But before long, I had caught up with some walkers, and then another set of walkers, and then some runners! My goal was once again to run, only walking through the water stop. Oh, and the hill. Stupid hill. I got most of the way up it, but as it circled around a corner and continued to climb, I lost my momentum and slowed to a walk, but then picked it back up again. Best part about the hill? After that it was pretty much all downhill from there! I crossed the finish line and looked up to see what might possibly have been very close to my best time ever in a 5K, but with no timing chip we will never know...
I hung around the post race party for a bit before climbing in my car and heading home. It was a fun race - although I don't know if I would drive all the way down there for a 5K again (a longer distance - possibly). But they are currently allowing people to vote for cities to host a Skirt Chaser 5K so go out there and vote!! For Seattle of course! :)
2 comments:
I was there too!! It was so much fun, and I also had to drive about 3 hours to get there. I will totally do it again next year, and hopefully NOT get an incredibly annoying side stitch that buckled me over just before the water stop. I was on track for a great time - and in the end I had my worst race EVER!
If you were around for all the awards - I was the one in bright orange that won the "Getting Lucky" award for being bib number 1069!
I just re-read this report since we both did it.
I totally puked at the finish line! I was dying. It was just soooo dang hot. And instead of drinking water at the stop I just poured it on myself to cool off.
And that skirt that we got .... omg that gave me the WORST chafing ever two weeks ago! That is reserved for 5K or less runs from now on!
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