It's not a race. Maybe I'll race. I'm not racing. Do you mind if I race?

What can I say, my family knows me well.  I asked Keith & Hannah to do a local 5k with me b/c we would get free antlers in our race packet.  Annie let me know she would be interested in doing it too so I thought we'd have so much fun dressing up and sticking together. 

The day before the race, I was feeling good and having not raced since OilMan, started to feel the itch.  I talked to Keith about it and decided to think about it.  Hannah & I went to Wal-Mart to select our outfits and while there, I decided I was going to stick with them.  I called Keith & let him know I was sticking to the original plan.  

Annie stayed the night Friday night and we took her to GenuWine with us.  Two bottles of wine later, I was falling asleep and asking them to take me home!  I definitely wasn't going to be racing on Saturday and it was a late race start so what the heck!  

Annie & I got up Saturday, ran to Wal-Mart to get Keith's Santa hat and then ran to Starbucks where we ran into Kerry Gordon who was so sweet and bought our coffee for us (thanks again Kerry).  We picked up our fellow reindeer elf (Hannah) and then went to get Santa (Keith).  Stef & Avery decided to get out of the house and meet us there to cheer us on.  This was shaping up to be a great morning. 

Santa and his reindeer/elf mutants.  

We took a bunch of pics at the start and then started to line up for the race.  As I stood in line, I turned to Keith and asked if he minded if I ran ahead of them, he said "go for it" and Annie & Hannah laughed as both suspected I would want to do that (see, my family knows me well). 

I totally wasn't dressed to race.  I was wearing elf boxers with the crotch cut out to look like a skirt (tri shorts underneath) and a Hanes white tshirt.  I had antlers on my head no less.  I passed the antlers to Keith, hiked up my skirt, rolled up my sleeves and tucked them into my sports bra and decided what the heck!  No warm up either.  This would be interesting.

I ditched the antlers and started to hike up the skirt.  I meant business.  

Just like that, it was time to go.  It was warm yesterday, a lot warmer than my August race in Buffalo. There was only one water stop on the route and I think it was at around 2 miles.  I felt really good but honestly, had no clue what pace I was at.  I had no Garmin, no watch, nothing.  I was running strictly by feel.  I felt I had slowed down a bit and thought, no big deal.  I mean, I haven't done speed work in a while and even though running 3.1 miles isn't too tough, it's different when you're trying to run hard.  

As I turned back on to Lake Woodlands I decided to pick it up a bit and was surprised to feel great.  Turning into North Shore Park, I caught a glimpse of the clock and saw I was a minute faster than my August 5k and less than a minute off my PR which was in much, much cooler temps.  Not too shabby.  After a few minutes, I consulted the standings and saw I was listed in 1st place.  Well, that's nice.  Hey, small races are great for those of us who don't typically place.  :)

Me sitting patiently.  :)

What the heck just happened?

When Keith, Hannah & Annie finished, I let them know we'd be sticking around for the awards because I probably would never place again.  I sat very patiently, expecting my name to be called as the winner of the F30-39 a/g.  Much to my surprise, they didn't call my name.  I knew something was wrong b/c they had called Hannah as the winner of her a/g and we didn't think that was right but weren't 100% sure.  I went up to inquire as to what happened and they kind of blew me off.  I caught a glimpse of what they had listed for Hannah's time.....21 minutes and let them know their results were off as I knew Hannah was not that fast (no offense Hannah).  A few more folks complained and they finally admitted the results were off.  After about 15 more minutes, they announced the results again and I got my 2nd place A/G finish.  I was still happy although secretly thought the lady who got 1st looked a lot older than 38.  

The anti-climatic "Awards Redo" Presentation.  What about my speech?

All in all, we had the best time yesterday.  We laughed so hard at so many things and got to just hang out for a few hours.  After the race, Annie & I pampered ourselves with mani/pedis while Keith worked in the shop and Hannah returned to her mom's place.  A great, great day!


My mission today:  find more small races so I can place again. :)