Brown Santa 5K race report

Okay, I’ve slacked off a little as of late.  In my defense I have been working A LOT.   But, in reality, that is no different from any other time and I still found time to write and post blogs at least every few days.

Yesterday, I started a 2.5 week long vacation for my birthday.  I started it off by working 16 hours Friday and getting home around 6:45am yesterday morning, then sleeping until just after noon-time.  Then, my friend Mark came over (he’s getting an apartment in my complex at the beginning of February so he was already in the area when I woke up because he was filling out paperwork and doing the tour) and we hit the road for Spring, TX.  Corset shop hooooooooooooooooo!!!!  We drove the 3-ish hours there, and of course, since I was just there 3 weeks ago, the guy remembered me.  I told him the size I wanted (25) and he showed me what he had.  However, the corset I REALLY liked was a size up (26).  No big deal; it’s close enough…only a 1 inch difference.  Next year, I’ll have them make me a custom corset!  So, he laced me up and it looked fabulous.  Mark and I had a great drive there and back.  We talked a lot.  And anyone that knows me know I love to talk, so that was awesome.

I got home and then he went home.  I went inside and laced the corset up on myself because I HAD to take a picture of me wearing it.  I had to.  Haha.  Oh and it’s reversible to solid black, so if I’m wearing a skirt I don’t have a color match with a corset or other top, then I can just wear it on the black side…or, of course, I can also opt to wear the white one. 

Today, I had the Brown Santa 5K.  I had signed up to run with a 10-person team.  We were going to be called the Jail Birds.  Haha.  Anyway, when I went to pick up my packet Friday before work, I was informed that due to the winter storm happening up in Dallas, TX, that the shirts for the 5K were stuck in Dallas.  Lame.  When I arrived this morning, they informed us that the shirts were STILL stuck in Dallas and that they would most likely be mailed to us.  They damn well better find a way to get me my shirt.  It’s bad enough I can’t find my dang RNR shirt.

So, I knew days ago that it was going to be cold for the run this morning.  But I wasn’t fully “prepared” for it to be as cold as it ended up being because until yesterday the weather reports said it was going to be around mid-30’s.  But, this morning, one of my coworker’s phones said it was 28° and another’s said it was 30°.  Cold.  I dressed as warm as I could, keeping in mind that I would warm up substantially after I got moving on the course, so I didn’t want to overdo it.  I put on the lightweight long sleeved white shirt that I modified to wear with my renaissance dress a couple weeks ago, then I slipped on one of my long sleeved running pullovers and then my TEAM SHERIFF tech shirt over the top of it all.  Then, I put on 2 pairs of running tights.  I put a thick pair of running socks on followed by some nice thick bright pink leopard print knee high cotton socks.  I put my plain black beanie on to keep my ears warm and then was thankful that I was able to find the Nike running mittens I bought at the Capital 10K expo earlier this year.  I was set.  It was chilly, but totally tolerable.  There was no wind, so that was a blessing.

We started running at 8:15.  This was my first run with my new Garmin (OH!  I haven’t told you about that yet…I will at the end of this post) and I almost forgot to start it.  Thankfully, it found signal fast and I was able to start it without delay as I crossed over the timing pad to start the course.  We were running around the parking area and streets surrounding the Travis County Expo Center.  It was a little hilly.  In the first mile alone there were 2 slight hills. But I was chugging along just fine.  The new Garmin (as far as I can figure out for right now at least) does not display my current/average pace at all.  The only things on the display while I’m running are the total time I’ve been moving (oh and this one auto pauses if I stop for 5 seconds, I think) and my total distance that I’ve run.  It does, however, chime on the completion of each mile and tell you what you completed that mile in.  So, I ran the entire race “by feel.”  I kinda liked not knowing what my pace was.   I wasn’t obsessing about my pace…and not having that looming over me as I ran made the run more carefree.  The course was boring and I was wishing as I ran that I had plugged in my music.  Oh well.  If I run this run again next year, I will remember that.

So, back to the fact that it was below freezing.  I knew this race was a small race to begin with and then, when I found out how cold it was going to be, I figured there would be a lot of no-shows.  I was right.  I think there was 60 people at the start line…and probably half of those were kids.  Anyway, in the first 2 miles, there is a portion that is an out and back course.  So, as the people that were ahead of me were running back toward me, I scanned the females.  Most were either obviously in a younger age group than me and a couple were definitely in an older age group.  There were a few that looked about my age.  I figured I was in the top 4 of what I perceived to be my age group.  I passed a lot of people in the first half to ¾ of a mile.  At mile 2 there was a Gatorade stop and I folded the lip of the cup and attempted to drink without stopping.  That was a fail.  I inhaled it.  So I stopped and chugged it real quick, tossed the cup and then resumed running and coughing…haha.

Around mile 2.6 I wanted to stop and walk.  I wasn’t tired, or burnt out.  I hadn’t hit a wall.  I just wanted to walk.  But I didn’t let myself.  I looked at my mileage and told myself that I had less than half a mile and that I could do it and when I crossed the finish line I could walk all I wanted.  So I pushed on.  I made it to the finish and remembered to stop my Garmin as I crossed.  Total time of 32:13 minutes.  Definitely not my fastest, but also not my slowest either.  I had a goal for this race.  I wanted to hit a 10 min/mi pace and, you know what?

I DID IT!!!!  And I didn’t know what my pace was as I was running this time.  I just ran by feel.  I made myself be a little uncomfortable for the entire run and it paid off.  I ran the Run With The Heroes 5K in September fully trained in 30:15.  That was a 9:30 pace.  So, untrained, I only ran 34 seconds a mile slower than when I was fully trained.  Hello muscle memory!  I am very happy with how I did in this morning’s race.

So, race ends, all the Travis County employees gather together and head for the expo center to await the awards ceremony and take pics together (and with the Sheriff!).  We all get our bagels and bananas and Sun Chips.  A couple people hit up the free massage…I passed.  There were a few booths, one was ARC (Austin Running Club…I’ve toyed with the idea of joining them…maybe next year) and the other was Gritness.  I stopped at Gritness and she explained that it was basically a free fitness networking site that connects you to free and low cost fitness activities in your area.  OMG!  I signed up and I got a free shirt!  And we all know I love free stuff.  Haha! 

Moving onto the awards ceremony.  But first, flashback to the start line, one of the guys in my group looked at how many people were there and declared “we’re all going to place!”  Fast forward back to the ceremony.  They announce the masters winners, the overall winners, then they start announcing the age group winners.  Every single one of us (except one lady) won a medal for 1^st, 2^nd or 3^rd place in their age group.  I got FIRST in mine!!!  Holy cow!!!

Oh, and I should note here that NONE of the people whose team I signed up to run with showed up.  Not a single one of them.  They all no-showed.  But that’s fine, it was an event not only sponsored, but put on by my agency so I knew there would be people I could hang out with pre- and post-race.  But, now I have to rag on them for being pansies…hahahaha!!!

Alright…my new Garmin.  Last week, I went to put my Garmin in my work bag so that I could have one of the nurses show me how to set it to show my CURRENT pace (you know, like when you set the mph on the treadmill and it tells you what pace that translates to…that would be your current pace) instead of my pace for the mile.  I looked at the display as I picked it up and it said “GARMIN” on the display.  Um…it’s supposed to say the time.  I pushed all the buttons and nothing happened.  I hooked it up to the charger and again…nothing.  Great.  I had the Garmin screen of death was the only thing I could figure.  So, I stopped at Dick’s Sporting Goods to pick up a new, cheap GPS watch.  Online they had a Timex Marathon GPS watch on sale for $80…but I didn’t have time to order it and get it before today’s race.  In the store, the cheapest one they had was the Garmin 10…which comes in pink (squee!!!).  Anyway, I bought it on my way to work, so I took it into work with me so I could charge it up and read over the manual.  As I’m reading the manual, I discover that it has 2 really cool features.  First, it has what is called a Virtual Pacer.  I almost used this feature this morning to keep me at a 10 min/mi pace…but decided since I was untrained that I didn’t need to overload myself.  I’m guessing it chimes at you if you drop too low or go to fast with your speed to keep you on track with your goal pace.  The other feature is a run/walk interval program.  My guess is that it chimes at you when it’s time to run and then when it’s time to walk, and so on.  These are 2 very awesome things that my $300 Garmin does not do.  Now, the main reason I had bought the Garmin 210 was because it had a heartrate monitor and could calculate my estimated calories burned.  Well, the 10 doesn’t have a heartrate monitor, but it still figures your estimated calories burned based on your weight and your pace.  This is great, especially for longer runs when the transmitter would chafe the inside areas of my breasts.  So, anyway, the “old” Garmin’s battery charge ran out, so I clipped the charger on it and now it works just fine.  I’m going to sell it.  I like the 10 better.  Oh and I like the charger clip better on the 10 than on the 210.