Hey Ya'll   Just got back to Vermont from Texas.  Did you miss me?  Anyway, while I was away, I participated in my first 5K of 2013.  I signed up with my brother.  The picture below is him and I before the race.

I met Scottdawg from RA.  He's super nice and very much the social butterfly.

I went into this race hoping for a time of something under 32:00.  My last 5K was in Dec and my time was 33:13.  I figured I could do better since I've been training for a HM, although I've felt like my fitness has declined some since I ran my practice HM a couple of weeks ago.

Anyway, the weather was great and I was eager to run this race.  We had a little hiccup at the beginning of the race.  We all ran the wrong way.  I'm not sure how far off course we went because I don't wear any kind of GPS gadgets.  Looking at the map, we might have gone off course about 1/4 mile total.  My brother set an aggressive pace for me, but I was determined to keep up.  He is a fireman and keeps in good condition, but he's not a runner.  So I was surprised that he was able to push me so hard.  At about the mile 2 marker, I asked him if we could slow up a bit.  He refused.  Told me to keep my head up and suck in some air and I'd be fine.  I did as I was told and kept going at his pace.  Close to the last 1/2 mile or so, he told me to pick it up a notch.  Honestly, I didn't really think I had any kick in me.  I talked him into holding off for one more block and then I let him pick it up.

I was so focused on keeping up with my brother that I forgot to look at the clock on the way by.  I kept saying, "Did anyone get a look at my time?"  My husband was clueless.  I doubled back to see what the clock said and it read 29ish minutes.  I couldn't believe it.  That means I killed my goal.  I had to wait until the next day to get my official results.  The final official results were: 28:38, 3rd in my AG, 21st overall female, and 46th overall.  There were 300+ participants in the 5K portion of the race.  I'm a bit bummed about the misdirection at the beginning because I think my time might have been in the 27's.  At any rate, I've made some real progress since Dec. and I wouldn't have known it if my brother hadn't been there to push me.  I got a real feel for what it means to race.

Nice job!  Congrats!  Did you get some bling-bling for your AG placement?

And very nice outfit!

Terrific run.  Now you'll have totally different expectations for yourself.  it's fun to stretch our limits.  Congratulations!

Awesome job!  And again, as I've told you before, excellent taste in clothes! 

Nice job!  Good for your brother for pushing you.  Congrats on the AG!!!

Wow, gratz on the AG award and excellent time.  You now know the difference between running a race vs racing a race.  The latter hurts, but is short lived given the satisfaction of a PR.  Running a race involves pain, but its hard to self inflict more by pushing ones self.  Kudos to you sibling for pushing you.  Undoubtedly you will get 27 next time if you push the pain level one more time.

You killed your goal time, congratulations!

It was very nice meeting you and your brother!  Glad you enjoyed the race, even with the mix-up.  Yes, no awards given on race day, they were trying to unscramble everything from the mix-up and it took them quite a while!   At first someone told me it would be considered a fun-run cuz of the mixup but then someone else said awards would be mailed after they got everything straightened out.   So congrats on your AG award and hope you get your medal soon!

Awesome job!  And again, as I've told you before, excellent taste in clothes! 

I'm a total Inknburn junkie.  I lost my job this week, so I'm going to have to be happy with what I have for now.  I have almost their entire women's inventory on my wish list.