Because I Don’t Own a Pair of Pink Shorts

On Sunday I wore yellow.  I repeated my mantra of ‘fast’ as much as possible.  And I needed to be. After the Redhead’s second consecutive 5K win* I had to earn a metal or risk blowing the ‘perfect AG or better’ month we were having.  And this is no easy task given that I had run a marathon the week before (and not run since then) and because this is the Race for the Cure baby.  In Playmaker’s Race Series, this is one of the biggest races and draws in the fasties from all over the greater Lansing area. 

A quick aside; this race, like a few others in the Playmaker’s Series, is an afternoon start—specifically a 2pm start.  I hate afternoon starts.  I like to race early (say 8am) or later (around 7pm), but the hours between 10am and 4pm I hate.** 

After sleeping in, the Redhead and I headed to the L.  I grabbed my bib and started to stretch.  They had changed the course since I last ran it, and the new route is a bit if a winding mess.  Even though the Redhead ran her 5K the day before in freezing cold and received her award, I had a perfectly sunny day and high 50s weather.  Yes Michigan! 

I haven’t raced a 5K since 2009.  Seriously.  Since then I’ve run several 5Ks, but I haven’t targeted one as a ‘race’ effort.  They have either been 5Ks run at a slower pace with friends or family, or have been run the day after a 20 mile long run (see Corktown or Super Bowl).  So, I was nervous.  I had seriously forgotten how to race a 5K, only I didn’t figure that out until somewhere around mile 2. 

I crowded over to the starting line and thought…don’t kill yourself the first mile.  I killed myself the first mile.  That created two problems.  First, a crash reminiscent of a four year old crashing after finding and devouring a package of Fun Dip.  Second, the toll of the marathon a week after made my legs feel like jelly.***  You know you are having a bad race when, in your head, you begin to tell yourself how bad your race is.  Fortunately, I didn’t hit the next step of bad race day, which is when you actually begin to construct your post describing how bad your race was.  

During the second mile five people passed me.  During the third mile I was only able to pass two back.  My final time was smidge under 19.  Not bad, but not great.  Still, I managed a top twenty-five overall finish and, most importantly, snagged an AG to keep our precious household streak of race bling alive. 

And now, a few final notes about the marathon.  First, thank you all for your kind comments on my race recap.  For the first time ever, I had a palindrome for a bib number.  So, winds be dammed, I knew I was in for a PR that day.  Having read a few other race reports from other marathoner’s, it does seem that the wind pretty much owned everyone.  Eff you wind.  I really like my Lansing Marathon shirt.  Most of all, I loved going out the day before and doing some motivational chalking with Lam and the Redhead.  I’ll definitely do that again for my future marathons. 

 

 (Run thirsty my soft soft friends.)

* Yep, after winning the Lansing Marathon 5K she got another first place AG on Saturday! 

** Yes, that includes you Boston! 

*** So what if my 5K race recap is longer than my marathon recap.