Superhero 10k run in 2019 Amazing Stories!

So this morning was one of the two runs that I registered for during my post-race runner’s high last weekend. The second one is later this month. Guys, after 4 days of rain I was struggling to find the motivation to even want to get out of bed to go to this run. And it wasn’t even one of those races that start at 8 am and is located two hours away either. It started at 11 am, but still about 50 mins away though. Anywho, I was battling the “if its raining really badly when you wake up, you can just consider your registration fee a donation to the cause and not go.” argument in my head, But I can’t be skipping out on races I’ve already paid for like that at this phase. That happens during the burnout phase. I’m at the “still trying to get back into this and make it a habit” phase. I checked the hourly forecast, and it showed that the rain would be ending either around the start time or shortly after. So I told myself there was hope, and I got myself out of bed and out the door.

The rain stopped about 15 minutes before start time! This run had both a 5k option and a 10k option you could choose from. Unfortunately when I registered there weren’t course maps up on the website so I didn’t know what I’d be getting myself into course-wise. The 10k course was the 5k course ran twice. Face.Palm. Do you know how hard it is to run a second round when you finish that initial 5k and see all the 5k’ers congregating around the snack table? Ha, dramatics aside, it wasn’t that bad. It was a “lollipop” course. We started at Park A and ran on a trail until we got to Park B. Once at Park B, we did a clockwise-loop around all of the baseball fields before returning to the trail that would bring us back to Park A. So it was kind of neat because on the trail portion you go to see all the people either heading out or coming in as you were going the opposite direction.

I’d say 85% of the people there ran the 5k. I think I saw a group of 3 women who all had a 10k bib on stop after the first 5k. I was trailing this one girl for most of the race and was wondering if she was a 5k or 10k runner. When we finished the initial 5k and we both headed back out for round 2, and I got my answer. She pulled out a little further ahead than me in the last half mile, but she was always in my eyesight. A little after we finished, they held the awards ceremony and that girl who I was trailing won 1st place overall for the women! I had no idea she was the leader. So I got 2nd place overall. Unfortunately they only handed out 1st place awards for Female 5k, Male 5k, Female 10k, and Male 10k. They did not hand out 2nd or 3rd place awards, let alone age group awards. That is probably the only time I’ll ever come in second place overall for women.

The run was ‘fun run’ enough that it wasn’t chip-timed. The time I clocked with my phone was 56 minutes and 16 seconds, which is about 2 minutes faster than the 10k I ran one week ago. It was also a lot flatter of a course. The award winners all got a free 1 month gym membership to the Anytime Fitness in that town (they legit had the key fobs -which get you inside the gym after-hours) there and ready to go for the winners and a Starbucks gift card. If I had come in first place, I would have given my key fob to that girl (they said you could transfer the membership if you didn’t think you’d use it but knew someone who would) but I DEFINITELY would have kept the Starbucks gift card. I think it was only like $10, but whatevs. I’m assuming that girl lives closer than 50 minutes to that Anytime Fitness lol. Those were really generous awards I thought.

My biggest win of the morning though was getting myself there. Hands down, that was the hardest part. Sooooo glad I did though. My second biggest win of the day was that I had my first bowel movement since last week! I don’t know why I go through sporadic episodes of constipation, but it happens from time to time. And every time I go more than 4 or 5 days without pooping, I’m 100% convinced that I’m never going to be able to poop again. So then when it does finally happen (naturally, without laxatives or other assists) it’s a triumphant moment. All of you people who can make it happen naturally every day can shut it (said in a not as snotty-sounding way as that sounds sort of way) . I’m not jealous or anything though (I am).