Last Place Runner

Yesterday was cold, but after a super windy run on Wednesday, I was so glad there was no wind.

I had never raced before, so I wanted to be there on time and ready to go. The race didn’t have packet pickup ahead of time. So I got there about 45 minutes before start time and checked in. I got a little bag with a t-shirt, my bib, four safety pins, my chip, and two sample packs of heart burn medication.

My husband helped me get my bib pinned on and, after watching what other runners did, he helped me put my chip on my shoe. Meanwhile, the line at the check-in table was 100 people long. And that’s when I realized it is probably better when you have to pick up your race packet two days before. The race was delayed by about 20 minutes.

There were two options for runners. You could run. OR you could stop at one of five stations along the route and do CrossFit WOD to honor local service people who’ve died in the line of duty recently. Those runners got to line up first, but the announcer told us we could stop in at any or all of the five stations and do the workouts.

The first bunch of runners set out and it was time for me to move toward the start. Next to me, a young-ish guy (maybe 23) was with his girlfriend and a couple of his friends.

Now, I had just nearly puked during my run the day before because I couldn’t stay out of the Chex Mix I’d made for the Thanksgiving snack table. So my stomach was empty (and unhappy about it) when we were waiting to start the run.

But the guy next to me said, “I haven’t trained for this. Like, at all. But I ate a bag of Skittles this morning, so I should have plenty of energy.”

Then he clarified that he had not eaten just a regular bag of Skittles. He had eaten the huge bag, like you’d have if you wanted to fill the big candy dish at the office.

I wanted to punch him in the arm. I wanted to scream, “DO NOT PUKE ON ME!” But there was really only one thing I could do: Outrun him.

Long story short, I ran a lot. I walked some. My one and only goal was to finish in 60 minutes, although I knew I could probably walk the whole race in 50 minutes.

My official chip time was 43:52:2. I finished 130 overall and 49th in my age group. Best of all, I burned 589 calories.

I was cold to be bone by the time we got home. I took a nice hot bath and then it was time to go to my sister-in-law’s parents’ house for lunch.

By 6:15 last night, not only was I back at home, I was in my pajamas and crawling into bed. Apparently a brisk three-mile run followed by a few ounces of turkey is the insomnia cure. When I got home from the 5K yesterday, I was at more than 11,000 steps on my Fitbit. I got fewer than a thousand steps after that for the rest of the day.

So it was a great day and I can’t wait for the race next weekend!