One of my goals for this month was to run a race in honor of Kathleen Kerrigan, my friend who bravely fought breast cancer.
It's relatively easy to find a run in support of ending breast cancer in October, since it's breast cancer awareness month.
I decided to run the Warrior Angels Battle Buddy Boogie mostly because it's a local charity to Fort Bragg. It is a charity run by a breast cancer survivor in the Fayetteville area and directly supports women affected by breast cancer on Fort Bragg. I chose this charity because I really liked the idea of supporting a cause that directly affects my sisters in arms. You can read more about the charity at the link below!
http://www.warriorangels.org/
On with the race...
I pre-registered for the race, which guaranteed me a t-shirt. I picked up the shirt, which is actually really cute, there were no race numbers or chips as this was a fun run. What was available was blank race bibs and pink sharpies, where you could write a message about your run. I wrote "Running in Honor of Kathleen Kerrigan" and pinned it to the front of my shirt.
Also, it was a relatively small race, so arriving an hour early was a little unnecessary. After stashing everything in my car, I just hung out waiting to race and keeping warm. It wasn't actually that cold, but I was in minimalist mode, and didn't bring a sweat shirt or anything and it was just around 45 degrees at the start.
The race organizer said a few words and recognized a few of her fellow survivors and we all headed to the start line.
I picked out a spot about a quarter of the way from the front, powered on my iPod (Kathleen's Playlist!) and waited for the race director to say "Go!"
It's been ages since I've run a 5k and admittedly I've forgotten how to pace such a short race. My "strategy" was just to run as fast as I could for 3.2 miles and see what happened.
As soon as the I heard the word Go, I set of at what I thought was a moderate pace and was surprised to find myself picking my way to the head of the pack in the first 50 meters or so.
Technically, I know this wasn't a race, it was a fun run, but I just thought it would be so cool to come in first for Kathleen.
I inched my way up until the only people in front of me was a pack of very fit looking men and no women. I thought surely this can't be it? But I just kept running.
Just as I hit the first mile, a young, fit-looking blonde girl passed me. I considered trying to keep up with her, thinking maybe she would burn out. Instead, I decided to just keep her close and hope to catch her at the end.
Keeping with that strategy I logged mile one and still felt strong heading into mile two. And focused on thinking about all the fun times I had with Kathleen.
The course turned slightly hilly at the halfway point and one of the fit-looking guys bonked on the hill and the girl and I both sailed past him while on the uphill climb.
I when I saw that I hit the 2.5 mile mark I decided to turn up the speed and I really concentrated on running faster to try to catch the girl in front of me.
I was really working on speed, when I saw the finish line ahead of me. What? I sailed through and the race director handed me a pink carnation and said "Congratulations!" I replied with "Is that the end?"
She looked really proud and said "Yup!" I didn't have the heart to tell her that according to the GPS the course was only 2.58 miles long. I figured, well, it's for fun and headed off to get some water and eat some yummy fruit salad.
So I ran 19:14 and finished as the second female. Not too shabby I suppose, but I really would have liked to finish first.
The good news, is that I finished a goal for October. Now on to goal-making for November!
In Summation: Cancer=A Theif; Kathleen Kerrigan=Awesome Friend; Short Race Courses=Confusing; 5ks in General=Seem Short; Faith in Mankind=Somewhere on the remaining .62 miles of the Angel Warrior Battle Buddy Boogie...a shame, perhaps I could have found it.
The race organizer said a few words and recognized a few of her fellow survivors and we all headed to the start line.
I picked out a spot about a quarter of the way from the front, powered on my iPod (Kathleen's Playlist!) and waited for the race director to say "Go!"
It's been ages since I've run a 5k and admittedly I've forgotten how to pace such a short race. My "strategy" was just to run as fast as I could for 3.2 miles and see what happened.
As soon as the I heard the word Go, I set of at what I thought was a moderate pace and was surprised to find myself picking my way to the head of the pack in the first 50 meters or so.
Technically, I know this wasn't a race, it was a fun run, but I just thought it would be so cool to come in first for Kathleen.
I inched my way up until the only people in front of me was a pack of very fit looking men and no women. I thought surely this can't be it? But I just kept running.
Just as I hit the first mile, a young, fit-looking blonde girl passed me. I considered trying to keep up with her, thinking maybe she would burn out. Instead, I decided to just keep her close and hope to catch her at the end.
Keeping with that strategy I logged mile one and still felt strong heading into mile two. And focused on thinking about all the fun times I had with Kathleen.
The course turned slightly hilly at the halfway point and one of the fit-looking guys bonked on the hill and the girl and I both sailed past him while on the uphill climb.
I when I saw that I hit the 2.5 mile mark I decided to turn up the speed and I really concentrated on running faster to try to catch the girl in front of me.
I was really working on speed, when I saw the finish line ahead of me. What? I sailed through and the race director handed me a pink carnation and said "Congratulations!" I replied with "Is that the end?"
She looked really proud and said "Yup!" I didn't have the heart to tell her that according to the GPS the course was only 2.58 miles long. I figured, well, it's for fun and headed off to get some water and eat some yummy fruit salad.
So I ran 19:14 and finished as the second female. Not too shabby I suppose, but I really would have liked to finish first.
The good news, is that I finished a goal for October. Now on to goal-making for November!
In Summation: Cancer=A Theif; Kathleen Kerrigan=Awesome Friend; Short Race Courses=Confusing; 5ks in General=Seem Short; Faith in Mankind=Somewhere on the remaining .62 miles of the Angel Warrior Battle Buddy Boogie...a shame, perhaps I could have found it.
Doesn't it aggravate when those 5Ks aren't actually 5Ks? I ran one two weeks ago that was very close to 3.5 miles. When you are using them to fine tune things or tune up for something else, it kind of defeats the purpose.
ReplyDeleteBut, glad you had fun!
Yep! It is aggravating!
ReplyDelete