Kinda poor planning?

I had my first 5k under my belt and was ready for the next one! Rich had done the Simsbury River Run (Simsbury, CT) twice and told me I HAD to do that one with him this year now that I was back into running. I told him I'd do it, and I was going to beat the time of my first 5k. He just replied, "ya?" I said, "Well I can't do any worse!" He then went on to tell me that people are always battling to beat their PR. That first one I'd done was so much harder than I'd expected it to be, and I had been training more since then - I didn't think there was any doubt I'd beat mine! I agreed to it - 5/1/11. My goal was to do one per month. This one is usually held the last weekend in April, but that happened to be Easter Sunday (and my 30th birthday!), so they had moved it forward a week. I still count this as my April race :)

I'd been to Rich's previous two in Simsbury and we knew the route to get there, where the check-in was, where the start line was. This should've been a walk in the park. Except... this was the year they switched things up. It was in about the same place, but not quite. Parking was in the same area, but instead of the registration being in the lot, they had  moved it down the street into this park and made a festival out of it. There were WAY MORE people there than in years past! The kids were doing their fun run up and down the sidewalk, there was no clear direction as to where the registration tent was. It was a mess before I'd even gotten my Bib!

Stupid me decided I'd wear my flip-flops down there instead of sneakers and just change before I ran (I actually HATE having shoes on my feet!). It felt like I'd already done a 5k to get down to registration and get back to the car to drop off the t-shirt and change into my sneakers. On top of that, the 5k and 10k had different starting lines so Rich and I wouldn't even start together. And the icing on the cake - the portapotty's were no where to be found! If you know me, you know I freak out about not having facilities around should I need them. Now I was rushed, I had to pee, I was pissed off that everything had changed so much. I was just in the completely wrong mind set to do this. I found a portapotty on the way over to my starting line and thanked God! It was close enough to my starting line, but there were, give or take, 15 people in front of me waiting to use it too - and we had less than 10 minutes to the gun. All of a sudden I saw Rich running over - this was the only one he could find too (and it was even farther to his starting line!). I told him to go in front of me, since he had farther to get back to his start, but just as he had finished, THE GUN WENT OFF! Are you kidding me?!?!?!

Rich was yelling to me, "Just go! Just go anyway! You're chip timed so it doesn't start til you actually run across the line!" I said, "I can't! I have to go now!" :( Now on top of being frustrated to begin with, I had to do 3 miles without using the bathroom first??? Good thing I ran from the portapotty when I did - there was no actual "start line", so they started the timing from when they actually sounded the gun. I wanted to quit before I had even started. I was so upset and devastated to begin with. I had used up what little jog I have the ability to do just getting to the start line. This was going to SUCK!

So I went along with my fast paced walk, trying to compose myself and think positive. And just like the first 5k, I got further and further behind everyone else. I was afraid that soon I wouldn't even see anyone to know where I was going! I made sure I kept one girl in front of me in my sight so I had some chance of not being last. After what seemed like forever, I saw the makeshift 1 mile sign and looked at my ipod - I was at just about 16 minutes! No way! That was about 2 minutes under what my pace was for the first 5k I'd done! And with all that had happened before the race even started to stress me out?? I was so happy!! And then, a few more minutes up the road, there was another makeshift sign - "5k - 1 mile." OMG!!! The first sign was for the 10k'ers!!! I wanted to collapse right there. As I looked at the ipod, I was at just about 20 minutes. I was doing HORRIBLE! :(

But I kept going. I kept the girl in sight. And she was the ONLY girl in sight! The locals who had sat outside by the road to cheer people on had all gone inside. It was me, my ipod, and the streets of Simsbury. Although they were quiet, the streets weren't blocked off. There were no cops out directing traffic. There was pretty much nothing. It was a pretty nice day though - that was about the only upside. And I swore that just a little after mile 2, my grandpa, who had just passed away 2 months before, was with me. Not long after that, I got a burst of energy from "Let It Go" by Cavo. And then a little after that, a volunteer who was there to give direction between the 5k and 10k route, told me she loved my shirt!

::Side note - It was a Biggest Loser shirt that says "Unless you faint, puke, or die, KEEP WALKING!" :)

Just after her was a pretty decent downhill so I tried to jog quite a bit there and pickup some time. I was keeping somewhere around the 20 minute mark, so I knew I should be under an hour, but the whole slip up at the beginning had really thrown me off from knowing where my pace really was. I kept thinking the end was coming but I swear it never did! I kept switching places with the girl behind me because I REFUSED to be last! And finally, I saw the finish line! AND I SAW RICH! He had finished his 10k before I finished my 5k! He didn't see me, but his bright orange shirt stood out and gave me my last burst of energy to get to that finish line! I used what little breath I had to call to him after running through, and he poured his bottle of water over me and brought me to the shade. I couldn't believe I had actually finished that thing!

Looking back, we needed to get there sooner. We unfortunately needed to account for all the changes they had made from the years prior that we hadn't anticipated. Also, I need to wear my sneakers to the run! Had I not had to switch them when we went back to the car, I probably would've had time to use the portapotty before the race. I wondered what my time would have been if I hadn't hit all the obstacles before I had even started. And I wondered how much time would've been cut if my start time was actually calculated from when I crossed the start line, not from the gun time. But I can't redo history - I can only look forward to the next one. I still finished, I still managed to not come in last, and I still got my t-shirt :)

5k time on 5/1/11: 58:12