Oct 21, 2013 - fitness    3 Comments

Freaky 5k 2013

Once again, I ran the Hardy Girls, Healthy Women Freaky 5k this year. I registered a while ago, and then have spent much of October feeling crummy. Allergies, a cold, etc, just crummy, and have hardly even run because of it. But, I knew I’d go to the race no matter what, because a) I’d registered and paid b) my friend was going to be there, too and c) Ingrid was signed up for the kids fun run — her first ‘race.’ I even told my friend on Friday that I was feeling bummed that I couldn’t compete with my past times, because of the general malaise, and that my sole goal was just to finish and call it a day.

Ingrid’s race wasn’t timed, and it was inside, but she was really proud of how fast she ran and I was really proud that she did it at all, as she can be quite shy in new situations.

Ingrid start line

 

You can also read about the race (and see Ingrid again in the photo gallery — and if you look closely, you’ll see her sister and dad and our friends as blurs in the background) at the KJOnline: Waterville fun run fights negative sexuality.

After Ingrid’s race and the costume contest, it was time for the actual 5k, and I lined up and ran when they said go and listened to my music and just headed out, with zero expectations, just hoping to finish. It was perfect running weather, and  when I headed up the hill (this course ends on this HORRIBLE HILL) I was feeling prickly (could’ve been better hydrated) and I had to pee SO BAD that running was killing me. But Tami led the girls down to run with me, and I was fast-walking and making sure Willa didn’t run into traffic (it’s not a closed course) and was just DONE with the race so I ran up and across the finish line and honestly didn’t even check the clock (I really had to go.)

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So, off I went, and my watch had a weird time – it showed the distance as 3.08 and my ‘moving time as 36:14, and my total time as 37:35, which is all fine, and still better than last year, but then when I looked up my official time — well, I really can’t believe it, and I still don’t believe it but Tami told me to own it and believe it, but my official time was 35:39. Which would be not only 4 minutes better than last year, but a PR all on its own. So much for phoning it in.

In 2011, my time was 43:12   and in 2012, it was 39:47. Now I almost feel like I should set a goal of 31:30 for 2014!

 

3 Comments

  • I’m so proud of you Gretchen! You’ve come so far and your dedication is really paying off!

  • Wow….your hard work, shoe research, running research all came together. Great job. Maybe you need to research a new running watch.

  • Great job, Gretchen! That is awesome. 🙂

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