Run for a Rescue 5k Recap

It's done! I ran my first 5k this morning and it was certainly an experience. It was a lot of fun but there were some things that I definitely would have changed if I could; first and foremost, I would have made it about 20 degrees warmer and less windy. ;) Joe and I got up around 6am and ate breakfast and got my brothers up and ready to go. We wanted to leave around 7:15 to get there by 7:45, but we ended up leaving a little bit later and got there a little before 8.

The website for the race said that runners should arrive at 8, but it didn't say anything about a start time, so we wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to sign in and everything. It turned out that the race didn't actually start until 8:30, so got our bibs on and went back to sit in the warm car until the start time. I think there were probably around 50 runners maybe?

I've been to McDade Park before, but I think I was in maybe 4th grade, so I don't really remember it all too well. The course was really beautiful, but I was not prepared for it at all. I was expecting mostly paved roads and maybe some hills and man, I was in for a rude awakening. Within five minutes of starting, my socks and shoes were soaked from running through swampy fields (we got rain yesterday). This wouldn't have been a big deal to me if it had been 70 degrees outside, but it wasn't too great in the 45-ish degrees.

 

There were also two gigantic hills that we needed to climb as part of the course; one had a set of steps and the other was just grass. Again, wouldn't have been too big of a deal if I had been prepared for it, but they totally caught me off guard. I had really wanted to run the entire thing, but I had to start walking halfway up both hills. My last and most important complaint though is that the course was really badly marked. Joe was ahead of me the entire time, but at one point, he came up behind me and passed me, so I had to have taken a wrong turn somewhere. I'm honestly not convinced that I even ran the entire 5k, which is really disappointing but what can you do when no one really knows where they are supposed to be running? I talked to a couple other runners during and after the race and they all seemed to feel the same way.

 

So, in the confusion of trying to figure out where everyone finished, I ended up apparently finishing as the 3rd woman. Seth finished first out of everyone! I was super excited about the medal obviously, but I was more excited to get my jacket and sweats out of the car!

I don't know what my time was; I forgot to wear my watch and they weren't announcing it at the finish line or anything. I guess I'm just going to chalk this one up to a fun learning experience and hope that my next race is a bit more organized. We are heading down to West Chester next weekend and running a 5k on Saturday morning, so we'll see how that goes!