The Pregnant, the Middle Aged and Me
We had beautiful weather Saturday morning for the 5K. At race time it was about 70 and sunny with none of that horrendous humidity that has been plaguing us in recent weeks. The event was in held in my town so it was only about a 5 minute drive to the registration site at the Community House. The Saint and our nephew NF got up really early to go with me and it meant a lot to have their support especially when I found out there were only FOUR walkers entered in this event: a pregnant woman, two women in their 50s and me.
The pregnant woman, Michelle, and I walked together for about the first mile and a half and the other two women, obviously friends, walked together. It turns out that Michelle and I live in the same subdivision, she's due in October and normally she runs in this event. She's in much better shape than I am and set a pretty fast pace. After about 1.5 miles were in an area where the course took a turn and we were being lapped by runners so, it got kind of crowded. I moved behind her so we were single file and I let her get ahead of me. Her pace was killing me and I was afraid if I didn't slow down, I wouldn't be able to finish.
My goals for each race have been: finish under an hour and don't finish last. I knew I had the first goal in the bag but, in such a small field, I was afraid I would be dead last. In fact I was in last place for most of the last mile and there was a pickup trailing behind me so the passenger could pick up the orange traffic cones. Man, that really pissed me off! Once the driver was really on my ass so I turned and gave him a dirty look. Thankfully he got the message and stopped to talk to some other event workers, which allowed me to build up some distance between us.
So Michelle finished first and I think the two other women thought they were last even though I was only about half a block behind them with the finish line in sight. One of the women looked over her shoulder and spotted me. "C'mon and join us!" she yelled. "We'll all cross the finish line together so no one is last."
I thought this was incredibly sweet so I jogged up to them. At that point my right foot was really tender and jogging was neither pretty nor easy but, I'm glad I did it. The petite blond woman was the one who asked me to join them and her friend had a cool Australian accent. These two had decided to join the race for something to do. They were having fun, enjoying the beautiful summer morning and each other. For the short time I walked with them, they made me feel very welcome. And in the end they manuevered me between them so the blond friend finished second after Michelle, then me, and last was the Australian woman.
So I accomplished both my goals after all thanks to some help from my fellow walkers. My time was 53:36 which was almost 3 minutes faster than my last 5k and I finished next to last.
*************************************************************************************
After the race The Saint and I took NF out for breakfast and then back to my in-laws so he could pack. He flew back to Connecticut that afternoon and it was sad to see him go. He's a great kid and we had such a nice visit with him.
Once we got back home, I managed to get a few loads of laundry done before my brother B and his wife J came over with their dogs Payton and C.J. My brother adores corn on the cob and has been waiting rather impatiently for the Corn Boil this year. It's a small festival but there were arts and crafts vendors, a carnival, live music and food. Because we got there late afternoon, it wasn't too crowded and we were able to get our food without waiting in huge lines and found a spot at a picnic table under a tent. We sat there for a while, ate, talked, and listened to the music. The Saint bought me two charms at one of the vendor tables. A Chicago White Sox charm and Chococat charm that reminds me of Ronan. Then we went home to play with dogs, watch I Love the 70s and reminisc about our childhoods. J and I have been friends since junior high and The Saint and B have been friends since high school.
It was a good day.
The pregnant woman, Michelle, and I walked together for about the first mile and a half and the other two women, obviously friends, walked together. It turns out that Michelle and I live in the same subdivision, she's due in October and normally she runs in this event. She's in much better shape than I am and set a pretty fast pace. After about 1.5 miles were in an area where the course took a turn and we were being lapped by runners so, it got kind of crowded. I moved behind her so we were single file and I let her get ahead of me. Her pace was killing me and I was afraid if I didn't slow down, I wouldn't be able to finish.
My goals for each race have been: finish under an hour and don't finish last. I knew I had the first goal in the bag but, in such a small field, I was afraid I would be dead last. In fact I was in last place for most of the last mile and there was a pickup trailing behind me so the passenger could pick up the orange traffic cones. Man, that really pissed me off! Once the driver was really on my ass so I turned and gave him a dirty look. Thankfully he got the message and stopped to talk to some other event workers, which allowed me to build up some distance between us.
So Michelle finished first and I think the two other women thought they were last even though I was only about half a block behind them with the finish line in sight. One of the women looked over her shoulder and spotted me. "C'mon and join us!" she yelled. "We'll all cross the finish line together so no one is last."
I thought this was incredibly sweet so I jogged up to them. At that point my right foot was really tender and jogging was neither pretty nor easy but, I'm glad I did it. The petite blond woman was the one who asked me to join them and her friend had a cool Australian accent. These two had decided to join the race for something to do. They were having fun, enjoying the beautiful summer morning and each other. For the short time I walked with them, they made me feel very welcome. And in the end they manuevered me between them so the blond friend finished second after Michelle, then me, and last was the Australian woman.
So I accomplished both my goals after all thanks to some help from my fellow walkers. My time was 53:36 which was almost 3 minutes faster than my last 5k and I finished next to last.
*************************************************************************************
After the race The Saint and I took NF out for breakfast and then back to my in-laws so he could pack. He flew back to Connecticut that afternoon and it was sad to see him go. He's a great kid and we had such a nice visit with him.
Once we got back home, I managed to get a few loads of laundry done before my brother B and his wife J came over with their dogs Payton and C.J. My brother adores corn on the cob and has been waiting rather impatiently for the Corn Boil this year. It's a small festival but there were arts and crafts vendors, a carnival, live music and food. Because we got there late afternoon, it wasn't too crowded and we were able to get our food without waiting in huge lines and found a spot at a picnic table under a tent. We sat there for a while, ate, talked, and listened to the music. The Saint bought me two charms at one of the vendor tables. A Chicago White Sox charm and Chococat charm that reminds me of Ronan. Then we went home to play with dogs, watch I Love the 70s and reminisc about our childhoods. J and I have been friends since junior high and The Saint and B have been friends since high school.
It was a good day.
posted by Nichole @ 5:28 AM
1 Comments:
At 8:19 AM,
Mia Goddess said…
Awwwww, Nichole! That was a great story! I don't even know where to start... obviously your new friends are amazing, and I can picture you doing the same for somebody else as you get more experience. Also, 3 minutes is A LOT for a 5k, because that's like a full minute per mile faster. Percentage wise, that's amazing! You're really doing it, and I'll be smiling all day after reading this. :)
xoxo
Mia
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