Geist, IN 5K Race Report

So, I ran another race.

But first! To those that don’t read my blog and are just reading this on RunningAhead, we found out last week that the baby is a girl-flavored baby!

Hooray! Also, the tech said she’s a runner:

We’ll see. She has already run more miles than most (I should look that up and see how many miles she’s done. She’s already gotten three medals—one half, and two 5Ks).

So, yay! Girl babies!

I know, babe. And, for those who don’t follow this part of my life: Lola, who, since we have adopted her, has regularly pooped her pants about once a week. In February, we literally had the vet take healthy poop from a healthy cat and put it in her (a fecal transplant). And that is, I would imagine, every bit as gross as it sounds. For almost 3 months, there was no change, and I was pessimistic and sad and continually wanted to throw her in the garbage or, in the spirit of Garfield, since she looks like Nermal, mail her to Abu Dhabi, but! She hasn’t pooped her pants in 2 months! YAY! Just in time to have a tiny human that DOES poop her pants, but still! Yay!

Anyway, I’m sure no one cares, but it was relevant to that picture, since in some of my other race reports, it’s been mentioned that she poops her pants.

Absolutely.

Onward.

One of my half marathons I had signed up for prior to getting knocked up was the Geist Indiana Half Marathon. I’m lucky that the half marathons I signed up for all give medals for their 5Ks, too. So, when dropping down due to this weird groin issue (that, I think, I can safely just call a “pregnancy issue” at this point, since it’s been happening since 12 weeks), I can still collect medals that I might put in the baby’s room. I don’t normally love 5K medals, but for this purpose, I’m glad it worked out this way. The only race I flat out didn’t do was Cincinnati Flying Pig, because the 10K option was on the Saturday the day before, not the same day, so I just flat out skipped that one. I figure that one is close enough that I can do that some other year.

Anyway, since I have amended my plan of doing a half in every state to “just do a race in every state if you can, given that you will have children and probably will never ever sleep again and you will just gain 89 pounds and look like Honey Boo-Boo’s mom,” we went ahead with the trip, even though driving 4 hours for a 5K seems silly. But it wasn’t silly, because I got to finally meet an online friend that I’ve “known” for like 10 years:

This is Jen. Say hi to Jen.

Jen is a friend to all animals, but mostly to cats, as she also has four, so you should probably slow down there, Rosalita (yes, she has her tongue out in that photo).

So, we made the trip, met with Jen and her husband, and had a REALLY good dinner (I’m still thinking of the crabcake, and even though I have to cook the steak to death because—PREGNANT—it was really good, too).

The hotel was also pretty nice, another two-room deal. I just pick whatever is closest to the start line every time, so I’ve been pretty lucky so far.

I went to pick up my stuff from the Expo, which was just a little area set up in the nearby hospital. I learned a lesson this day. If you have to tell someone in a hospital what your last name is, they will try to impress you by telling you what Purpura is. I said “I know what it is, and I do not google it, thanks.”

FYI: Readers, don’t google it.

Got to the hotel, pinned my bib to the shirt, we ate some ice cream in bed, and it was bedtime.

Oh, and for what it’s worth, there was some hubbub on the race page about people not liking that the shirts were tech. First of all, I got the half marathon shirt, because that’s what I had signed up for and that’s what they handed me, so I went with it (and I feel ok since it says “half marathon and 5K” on it. But, it’s SUPER soft cotton. I’m MUCH more likely to wear that than a tech shirt. I don’t run outside, like, ever. So, I never wear the tech shirts, except MAYBE the short-sleeved ones. So. You know. SO THERE, bitches.

See? It’s a perfectly good shirt. Bitches just gonna bitch.

No, baby fetus. Well. I mean, actually you probably should be scared, but more for reasons like, oh, I don’t know, your parents don’t know what they are doing, but you should know, when CPS comes to get you, we put in a good effort. So, before the series of “yo momma” jokes start, I guess this report needs to continue.

Got up the next morning, we made the quick drive to one of the lots. They had shuttles taking people from the lots to the start, but I used a port-o-pot in the lot and we just walked to the start, since it was only a mile. It was cold, so the walk warmed me up. Frank deposited me, and I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

I made some rude Facebook comment about another race that didn’t start on time. I think the memory of the Iron Girl half marathon starting over an hour late, because they has MISMARKED THE COURSE but didn’t tell anyone that, was fresh in my mind, and I was irritated.*

But, it was only a short delay and the race started.

I’m only recently back in the 5K game, begrudgingly so. So, I had forgotten all of the shenanningans that happen with a 5K. Like. Unsupervised children! And walkers in the first .1 of a mile.

It seemed like there were WAY more children. Like. Adults were outnumbered by children in my head. There was a huge troop of kids with like, 2 adults running with them (they must have been part of some club or team), and they were all OVER the place. Like, I think 5Ks are GREAT for kids! I want my kids to do them with me! But. I think each kid should have an adult. I wouldn’t let my kid run a 5K without me!

But, this is where you tell me I know nothing about being a mother and I’ll let my kid go with a homeless bum just to drink a glass of wine in the bathtub alone, and I will reply that you are correct, sir.

So, the course was pretty simple. I just could tell that taking 6 weeks at lower mileage made me suffer. I work hard for 3-5 milers now (if I’m able at all due to the groin issues). I imagine that will only get worse, but I’m trying to stay at 3-milers a few times a week as long as possible before I have to switch to walking.

Miles 1 and 2 happened in 10:24 and 9:45. I really felt like I was working for it, which I suppose is sad, but oh well.

Mile 3 I was glad this was almost over. I also maybe felt like I had to pee, so I did that mile in 9:31 and the last smidge in 9:29. Nice negative splits.

Looking at that graph makes me feel really sad, because I felt like it was much hillier than that.

Anyway, I made it through the finished, grabbed my post-race snacks and medal, and a touch I enjoyed was at the chocolate milk tent, I also got a cowbell. That will come in handy when I am 100 pounds heavier, producing milk.

Let’s see. This was two weekends ago, so I would have been 18 weeks then. Here’s a hotel selfie of the bump:

Definitely gettin’ bigger.

I went back to the hotel, showered, and Frank had a nap for a while before we went to Red Robin. I’ve never been to one, but let me tell you, I am a convert. I thought it was just fast food. No. It was delicious food. Delicious, delicious food in my belly. I’m sad there isn’t one near us, but secretly, that is likely to be a good thing.

So, that’s it for my somewhat boring race report. We are flying out to SF for our anniversary trip, and sadly, I won’t get to do the Diva Half Marathon as I had intended, but I will run the 5K portion. If it weren’t for the trip being planned around it (and paid for), I probably wouldn’t have flown somewhere for a 5K (unless, like, you gave me a million dollars for it), but it’s more about our anniversary trip than the race at this point. So, look for that in the next few weeks, and after that, I’ve got no races planned. I may try to pick up one or two in town. We’ll see.

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*However, on a serious note, the real reason for the delay was that a runner had been hit by one of the shuttles. This might not be the place for this, as it’s buried deep in sarcastic nonsense, but I as deeply saddened, as a fellow runner, and a soon-to-be mother (she was the mother of two), to learn this. Here is an article. She only passed away in the past couple of days, I think, so she hung on for a while. Her family was apparently able to say goodbye. I just. I have no words. I don’t understand how it could happen. Everything seemed to clearly marked with people guiding traffic. So. All of the above nonsense aside, my heart goes out to this woman’s family.

Great job and funny RR as usual.  Sorry about the runner.