The 5k was a smaller one (approx. 70-80 people), so significantly more manageable than the Monster Dash. I love smaller races because they remind me of conference jamborees from back at LHE. Anyway, to the race:
I got bib number 4. I find this exciting, even though the number assignment was completely random. The low number didn't help me, though. I started out strong and thought I was going to be going for a PR. The course was fairly flat and the weather was beautiful (60 and sunny in November!). I missed the first mile marker, but somewhere around the start of the 2nd mile, I got a pretty vicious side cramp. Up to this point, I was in 6th place, but I slowly started dropping back. In the end, I ended up around 15th or 16th with a time of 23:59. Certainly not my best, but not terrible either considering I didn't focus on speedwork during marathon training.
Katie, though, had a fantastic race. It was her birthday, and she wanted to beat 30 minutes. Her previous PR from the Monster Dash was about 32 minutes. She destroyed that time and came in at 28:30ish. I barely had enough time to get back to the car after my race, grab the camera, and make it back to the finish to snap this photo.
Other fun things from the race:
~ We followed a Mini. It was a low budget race (supporting a great cause too), so after the RD tried to describe the course, it was clear that people may get lost. The solution: have a dude drive his Mini the entire way in front of the leaders. This duty, typically reserved for golf carts, turned out to be semi-necessary. The course was well marked, but it was fun to see a Mini drive along narrow wooded trails. I kept it in sight for the first mile, but lost it once my side cramp hit.
~ There was a fun percussion troupe along the course. I'm pretty certain they were along the marathon course too.
All in all, a fun race. I'll be looking out for other races this winter as I decide if I'm going to do Twin Cities again next year.
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