Women's Running Magazine 5K race recap

As I mentioned in my previous post, our original plans of going to my grandparents lakehouse for the weekend fell through, so three days before we flew up, I decided to check around online and see if there might be a local 5K that I could run.  I stumbled upon the Lady Speed Stick Women's Half Marathon Series and saw that they also had a 5K to go with the half marathon.  Since I'm not quite ready to do a half, I decided that the 5K would be perfect, so I signed up!

Friday was the race expo.  J, my grandparents and I went to the hotel to pick up my number, t-shirt, and goody bag and check out the race expo.  I bought my first Bondi Band and could not WAIT to use it for the race.  I made it out with minimal damage to the bank account and looked forward to the race on Sunday.

Ready for the race!

Sunday morning the alarm clock went off at 5 a.m., and J and I got up and got ready to go.  The email I got said that participants should be parked by 6 a.m. because of road closures, so we headed out at 5:30 a.m. to make sure we had plenty of time.  We parked and headed over to the start line to stretch and hang out before the race started.

Waiting for the race to start!

Finally, the announcers asked the half marathoners to make their way to their starting corrals.  J and I went ahead and walked over so I would be closer to the starting line.

Half marathoners ready to go!

Fifteen minutes after the half marathoners started, they called the 5K'ers to line up.  I like to start near the back since I'm not that fast and I don't want to get trampled.  :)  And then we were off!  I

About 1/2 mile in

I decided to run with my phone in my hand instead of in my armband so that I could take pictures and let J know when I was coming up on the finish line, but my camera stopped working!!!  It was a really nice course...a few rolling hills, but we ran on a path beside Normandale Lake.  It was nice and never really got crowded anywhere along the course.

As I approached the finish line (same place as where we started) I texted J and I heard the announcers saying names as the participants neared the finish.  I registered too late to have my name printed on my bib, so I figured I wouldn't be hearing my name, but all of a sudden, I heard "Jen ******, all the way from Atlanta, Georgia!"  I raised my arms and gave a little "Woo hoo!".  Shortly after, I crossed the finish line -

And done!

After I crossed we were guided into the finisher's chute, where I grabbed a water and a Gatorade and my medal!  They also gave us an ice cold hand towel.  That was a nice touch.

Gotta love the bling

 J then met me and we walked over to the Cookie Cafe.  I grabbed a cookie and down my water and Gatorade, then we decided to head back to my grandparents house (they chose not to wake up at 5 a.m....can't say I don't blame them!)

My official time was 35:48, so I'm slowly but surely closing in on my current PR.  I think I'm going to make it a goal of mine to run a race in each of the 50 states.  Should be doable right?  I want to get a running shirt so people will know I'm an out of state runner :)  Cheesy?  Maybe...but oh well.

This race was very well run.  They did a great job during packet pick up, the expo, and the actual race.  The medals for the half marathon was pretty cool!  Had I been prepared to run one I probably would have.

Source

Within the medal is a charm that you can put on a necklace or bracelet.  All of the half marathoners in the series do this, so if there's one in your area I highly recommend checking them out!

There were photographers there, but I refuse to spend $30 on a digital image for a 5K race.  They took a really cute one of J and I before the race.  Oh well.

A big thank you to my hubby for getting up at 5 a.m. and going with me to the race!  Seeing you at the finish line means more to me than you'll ever know.

Until next time,

Jen